Kevin Williamson's 'The Waterfront' inspired by dad's sordid past
Kevin Williamson, who first rose to fame creating 'Dawson's Creek,' is heading back to a waterside small town community with his new Netflix drama, 'The Waterfront.'
'It was sort of loosely inspired by my own family and my dad – and growing up in the '80s as the son of a fisherman,' Williamson, 60, exclusively told The Post.
Premiering Thursday, June 19, 'The Waterfront' follows the Buckley family, who preside over a fishing empire in the coastal North Carolina town of Havenport.
In order to keep their business afloat, they've dipped their toes into the wrong side of the law – including smuggling drugs on their boats.
7 Kevin Williamson attends the 'The Vampire Diaries' panel during Comic-Con International 2016 at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2016 in San Diego, California.
Getty Images
7 Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley in 'The Waterfront.'
DANA HAWLEY/NETFLIX
7 Rafael L. Silva, Melissa Benoist, Ben Fast, Holt McCallany, Jake Weary, Danielle Campbell, and Kevin Williamson attend Netflix's The Waterfront Screening & Dinner on May 29, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Getty Images for Netflix
The family includes hard-drinking patriarch Harlan (Holt McCallany, 'Mindhunter'), his ambitious wife Mae (Maria Bello), and their adult children, recovering addict daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist, 'Supergirl'), and washed up former football star son Cane (Jake Weary), who clashes with his dad and struggles to be a present husband to his wife, Peyton (Danielle Campbell). Topher Grace plays a drug lord.
Williamson said that his dad had some similarities to Harlan. He explained that his dad was 'a fisherman who got into a little trouble smuggling some drugs on his fishing boat.'
'But it was really small time stuff,' he added. 'He was caught and arrested. He paid the price.'
7 Jake Weary as Cane Buckley, Danielle Campbell as Peyton, Melissa Benoist as Bree Buckley in 'The Waterfront.'
DANA HAWLEY/NETFLIX
Williamson's father is now deceased, but he said he told him that he was going to use his life as inspiration for a show.
'He always said, 'Wait till I'm dead.' But I do know my dad has a big sense of humor and I'm sure wherever he is, he's happy knowing I did this show.'
The 'Scream' screenwriter said that his father was 'the best man ever, and so I was like, 'how did such a good man take a left turn?' I feel like we're in a world now where everyone has a side hustle….Everyone's trying to survive and they're doing what they can just to pay the bills. I really wanted to tap in that struggle.'
7 Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley and Maria Bello as Belle Buckley in 'The Waterfront.'
DANA HAWLEY/NETFLIX
'The Waterfront' feels like a mix of 'Yellowstone' and 'Ozark,' but with the setting of a family fishing empire.
''Yellowstone' was my dad's favorite show, and I used to call him up after every episode and we would chat about it because he loved it, and it was something that sort of bonded us,' Williamson explained.
'And so it did inspire a lot,' he told The Post. ''The Waterfront' has its own thing going on, but I would say that it lives in the same grocery aisle with those other shows.'
7 Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley, Maria Bello as Belle Buckley in 'The Waterfront.'
DANA HAWLEY/NETFLIX
7 Melissa Benoist as Bree Buckley, Rafael Silva as Shawn West in 'The Waterfront.'
COURTESY OF NETFLIX
'The Waterfront' is darker and more adult than Williamson's first show, but he quipped, 'if all the kids in 'Dawson's Creek' grew up and started to do bad things, then you have 'The Waterfront.''
'I have a three-year plan and a five-year plan,' he said of the show's potential future. 'So I would say four seasons, let's go with that. I do kind of have a blueprint for the second and third season, for sure. And maybe we could go further. That would be great.'
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