Is The Waterfront a true story? Netflix debuts Dawson's Creek-style show
The Waterfront is Netflix's latest must-binge drama series, following a North Carolina fishing magnate family going to desperate lengths to try to protect their crumbling legacy.
Although the Buckley family is fictional, the story is inspired by true events from showrunner Kevin Williamson's childhood. He was also the man behind Dawson's Creek and filmed The Waterfront in the same location as his hit 90s teen series, admitting that both shows draw from his past.
Here's all you need to know about what happens, where it was filmed and who stars in it.
The eight-part drama follows a winning Netflix format — a glossy drama about a dysfunctional family falling apart under pressure. But for showrunner Williamson, the series isn't just drama by numbers — it represents his own childhood, as a more mature version of some of the autobiography that found its way into Dawson's Creek.
For decades, the Buckleys have dominated their coastal town of Havenport, North Carolina, having the monopoly on everything from fishing to restaurants. But when patriarch Harlan suffers two heart attacks, wife Belle and son Cane are thrown in the deep end to try to keep the businesses afloat.
Meanwhile, daughter Bree has lost custody of her son following an addiction battle, and a risky new relationship could threaten the entire family's future.
The family is fictional, but many of the elements of the show are inspired by Williamson's own family story. His father Wade was a fisherman in North Carolina, but when times became tough for the industry, he was drawn into a desperate scheme to use fishing boats for drugs runs and eventually ended up serving time in prison.
It's a plot that may be familiar to Dawson's Creek fans as Joey's (Katie Holmes) father ended up in prison for similar reasons on the teen show, and Williamson has acknowledged that Dawson's Creek was "me growing up in a small town on the creek in North Carolina".
He added of how The Waterfront moves the themes on: "It's a little more adult Kevin. It's me looking back on my life growing up. It's reflection, it's nostalgic, it's a little bit of a memory piece. But it's also set in today's world, it's current, and it's a story about a broken family trying to fix themselves and not really knowing how."
Williamson, who was also behind the Scream movies, continued: "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. Now it's being taken away from them bit by bit. They'll do anything to hold onto it, because it represents their family."
Dawson's Creek might have finished back in 2003, but Williamson had always kept in mind how he would revisit the story of his own childhood. He told Time magazine: "That was the beginning of me fictionalising it, but I always knew I'd come back to it."
"I always told my dad I was going to write the story," he added. "He said, 'Wait until I'm dead.'"
Havenport is a fictional town, but it is based heavily on the North Carolina coastal towns from Williamson's upbringing.
It filmed in Wilmington and Southport, which was familiar ground to the series creator as an adult, too - they were home to many of his projects, including I Know What You Did Last Summer and Dawson's Creek.
"We have the beautiful sailboats, the yachts, and the fishing trawlers," he said. "We have the whole world here. It's the beautiful side of the business, and the commercial side of it."
Viewers will see the harbour and local businesses including restaurants, and eagle-eyed Williamson fans may even recognise some locations from his other series and films.
He told Time: "I absolutely love North Carolina. Through and through, I'm a Carolina boy. Southport looks very much like how I grew up."
Whilst the Buckleys are not Williamson's actual family, there are elements of each character inspired by his nearest and dearest. He said of looking for an actor to play father of the family Harlan: "I had my dad in my head. I was like, 'How do you cast Superman?'"
He eventually found his ideal actor in Holt McCallany, who has starred in other Netflix dramas Mindhunter and The Lincoln Lawyer, and can also be seen in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
Williamson said: "Harlan is very imperfect. He has a lot of flaws, but he also has a lot of good qualities. At the end of the day, he really loves his family and is willing to do almost anything to keep them safe and to keep his little family empire going."
Harlan's wife Belle is played by A History of Violence star Maria Bello. Williamson said of her character: "A lot of families have that strong matriarch at the center that keeps everything floating. Mine kept everything going. I got to school and graduated college because of the fire she lit under my butt."
The Buckleys are completed by recovering addict daughter Bree (Supergirl's Melissa Benoist) who Williamson has said was an exaggeration of the addictive parts of his own personality, and son Cane, who is who he thinks he would have become had he stayed in his hometown. Cane is played by Animal Kingdom star Jake Weary.
The extended Buckley family includes Danielle Campbell as Cane's wife Peyton and Brady Hepner as Bree's son Diller.
A supporting cast of locals includes Topher Grace as Buckley family nemesis Grady.
The Waterfront is streaming now on Netflix.
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