‘The Waterfront’ is streaming this week. How to watch, cast & true story in NC
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- Netflix releases 'The Waterfront,' an eight-part NC-set drama, on Thursday, June 19.
- Series follows a fictional fishing family on the NC coast battling industry decline.
- Creator Kevin Williamson draws from personal family history in NC’s fishing trade.
Need a new show to get hooked on? You might want to dive into Netflix’s drama filmed and set in North Carolina.
Inspired by true events, “The Waterfront” follows the journey as a “prominent North Carolina fishing family wades into treacherous waters to keep their crumbling business empire afloat.”
Just in time for summer, the eight-episode series drops Thursday, June 19.
What is ‘The Waterfront’ about?
“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,” creator Kevin Williamson previously told Netflix Tudum.
“Now it’s being taken away from them bit by bit. They’ll do anything to hold onto it, because it represents their family.”
‘The Waterfront’ start-studded cast
The show, starring Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Jake Weary, Topher Grace and Melissa Benoist as the fictional Buckley family, spotlights the Carolina coast in and around “Havenport” — a fictional town that’s, in reality, known as Southport.
Among the main cast is also an actor from North Carolina: 19-year-old Brady Hepner, a Winston-Salem native, as Diller.
With Southport and Wilmington in the spotlight, there are several restaurants and businesses you might spot while watching the show, including Fishy Fishy Café, Morningstar Marina and Potter’s Seafood, according to City of Southport officials.
Is ’The Waterfront’ a true story?
Marking his fifth film project in the area along with “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Dawson’s Creek,” creator Kevin Williamson’s vision for “The Waterfront” was based on experiences of his own fisherman father in North Carolina.
“The fishing industry sort of upturned in the ’80s — it all started to go away, and my dad couldn’t feed his family. 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,” Williamson told Netflix Tudum.
“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.”
How to watch ‘The Waterfront’
The full season of “The Waterfront” will be available to stream June 19 only on Netflix .
This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM with the headline "‘The Waterfront’ is streaming this week. How to watch, cast & true story in NC."
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