‘The Waterfront’ creator reveals true story behind NC drama series on Netflix
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Netflix’s 'The Waterfront' draws from creator Kevin Williamson’s family past.
- Williamson’s father inspired the fishing empire and smuggling plotlines.
- Series filming occurred across Wilmington and Southport in coastal North Carolina.
From the very shores where it unfolds, Netflix’s “The Waterfront” dives deep into the tale of a North Carolina family trying to keep their fishing empire afloat.
While it’s set in the fictional town of Havenport, the new drama series is indeed based on a real story — one pulling from the creator’s past.
The eight-episode series centers around the Buckleys, who rule the local fishing industry and some of the town’s biggest restaurants. But as they begin drowning in debt, they find themselves in deeper trouble trying to save their family businesses.
Are the Buckleys real?
The Buckleys aren’t a real family, according to creator Kevin Williamson, but their experiences are similar to those of his own.
“The show is inspired by my dad, but it’s a purely fictionalized account of me growing up as the son of a fisherman,” Kevin Williamson told The News & Observer through a Netflix spokesperson.
“My dad got in trouble for smuggling drugs in the 80s and that alone inspired this whole tale. It’s the same way that I fictionalized ‘Dawson’s Creek.’ It’s autobiographical but not.”
In a recent article by Netflix Tudum, he explained that this was after “the fishing industry sort of upturned.”
“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 said.
“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.”
Is ‘Dawson’s Creek’ a true story?
In regards to the “Dawson’s Creek” connection, Williamson’s slight autobiographical mention is in the very first episode.
“Joey Potter [Katie Holmes] says, ‘My dad’s in prison for conspiracy to traffic marijuana in excess of 20,000 pounds.’ That was exactly my dad’s charge — that’s why he went to prison. He got caught, he served his time, he got out, and I graduated,” he told Netflix Tudum.
A native of Oriental, North Carolina, “The Waterfront” marks Williamson’s fifth project filmed in the Wilmington and Southport area.
This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 11:05 AM with the headline "‘The Waterfront’ creator reveals true story behind NC drama series on Netflix."
.jpg)