Kevin Williamson’s latest Netflix series “The Waterfront” pulls directly from his youth spent in North Carolina’s coastal communities. The drama, which debuted on June 19, 2025, quickly climbed to Netflix’s #1 position worldwide.
The narrative follows the fictional Buckley clan as they fight to keep their fishing and restaurant businesses afloat in made-up Havenport, NC. When money problems become severe, they resort to smuggling drugs to maintain their livelihood.
This storyline mirrors Williamson’s actual family history. His father was a fisherman who faced serious financial hardships in the 1980s as the fishing industry declined due to overfished waters and stricter environmental regulations.
“I come from a family of fishermen—not just my dad, but the entire family,” Williamson explains. “Everyone I knew was a fisherman.”
When the fishing industry collapsed, Williamson’s father made a desperate choice. “Someone came along and said, ‘If you do this one thing, you can make all this money.’ And it was hard to say no,” Williamson reveals. His father agreed to transport drugs on his fishing boat.
The consequences were severe. “He was arrested for conspiracy to traffic marijuana—20,000 pounds,” Williamson says. Though his father served less than a year in prison, the arrest impacted the entire community. “They didn’t just arrest my dad. They arrested a whole bunch of people. It was part of a cartel.”
Williamson waited to tell this story at his father’s request. “I always told my dad I was going to write the story. He said, ‘Wait until I’m dead.’ And so I did.”
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The show features Holt McCallany as patriarch Harlan Buckley, Maria Bello as his wife Belle, Jake Weary as their son Cane, and Melissa Benoist as their daughter Bree. Williamson sees pieces of himself and his family in each character.
“Holt has the exact same straight John Wayne persona as my dad,” Williamson notes. “That sense of humor, where he can just throw out a line, and it’s funny.”
The character of Cane represents what might have been. “Cane is who I would’ve been if I’d stayed in Oriental,” Williamson admits. “There were times I thought I might, but my parents pushed me out. They didn’t see a future in fishing.”
Filming took place in North Carolina, primarily in Wilmington and Southport, locations meaningful to Williamson. He even used real fishing boats from Oriental as props. “I absolutely love North Carolina. Through and through, I’m a Carolina boy,” he says.
The show includes personal details from Williamson’s life, like a terrifying shark encounter he experienced at age 10 while on his father’s boat. “We woke up one morning—as far as you could see, there were sharks,” he recalls. “My uncle held me over to see them. It terrified me.”
Before creating “The Waterfront,” Williamson was already known for horror films like “Scream” and hit TV shows like “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries.” He previously touched on his father’s story in “Dawson’s Creek,” where character Joey Potter’s father was imprisoned for drug trafficking.
Critics have compared “The Waterfront” to shows like “Ozark” and “Yellowstone,” though many note its unique blend of fast-paced plot and character focus. It currently holds a 67% critic score and 81% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Williamson hopes viewers connect with the show’s emotional core. “Regardless of what these characters do—whether they’re fishing or getting their hands messy with a little crime and a little blood—I hope viewers connect with the idea of family.”
