Dysfunctional family dynamics are at the heart of new drama The Waterfront
Meet the Buckleys, a family that has ruled the town of Havenport, North Carolina for generations, controlling everything from the local fishing industry to the restaurant scene. That dominance, however, threatens to slip when family patriarch Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) is felled by not one but two heart attacks. As he recovers, the family fishing empire begins to crumble, as his wife Belle (Maria Bello) and son Cane (Jake Weary) struggle to keep everything afloat. Meanwhile, daughter Bree (erstwhile Supergirl Melissa Benoist) is experiencing her own struggles; in the early stages of addiction recovery, she’s lost custody of her son, and finds herself entangled in a complex relationship that threatens to tank the family’s future. Despite his precarious health, Harlan feels he has no option other than retaking control of his family’s empire before it evaporates.
That’s the premise of The Waterfront, a new drama — based on a true story, no less — from TV and film auteur Kevin Williamson (whose TV hits include Dawson’s Creek, The Following and The Vampire Diaries, while his big-screen triumphs are highlighted by I Know What You Did Last Summer and the Scream franchise).
As Williamson tells Netflix’s Tudum, the series explores the dynamics within a wealthy, dysfunctional family, and the lengths that people will go to when fearing that their legacy is on the line.
“This is about a working man who’s trying to make a go of it for his family. They’ve pulled themselves up from nothing and they’ve built this mini fishing empire in their small little town,” he says. “Now it’s being taken away from them bit by bit. They’ll do anything to hold onto it, because it represents their family.”
Harlan’s decision to retake the reins, however, only comes when he sees the questionable and desperate decisions that Belle and Cane have been making. Cane, however, has a complicated relationship with his father, seemingly unable to say no to him. Married to Peyton (Danielle Campbell), a proper Southern belle with whom he shares a young daughter, Cane likes the money his family business affords him. However, he’s come to realize that money is simply a Band-Aid that doesn’t change the fact that the life he’s living is not the one he wanted. In fact, Harlan has more in common with daughter Bree, who shares his intelligence — but also his propensity for hitting the bottle.
Also in the mix is Shawn West (Rafael L. Silva), a newly hired bartender for the Buckleys who is intrigued by the family and carries a secret that could upend them forever; and Jenna Tater (Humberly González) a journalist who left her big-city job to tend to her ailing father, placing her on a trajectory toward ex-boyfriend Cane, who’s never really gotten over her.
The Waterfront is deeply personal for Williamson, who based the story on the experiences of his fisherman father. “The fishing industry sort of upturned in the ’80s — it all started to go away, and my dad couldn’t feed his family,” he recalls. “So someone came along and said, ‘Hey, if you do this one thing, you can make all this money.’ And it was hard to say no to.” According to Williamson, that “one thing” was smuggling drugs on his boat. “My dad — a very, very good man — got tempted to do some things that weren’t so legal and got in some trouble. [But] it put food on the table, helped me go to college,” he explains.
For Williamson, the complex family dynamics are rife with drama. “All of our characters are full of light and dark,” Williamson says. “You never know what you’re going to get.
The Waterfront premieres Thursday, June 19, on Netflix