These Wilmington-area locations are featured in a new Netflix drama
A gritty, soapy thriller of a TV series whose locations showcase Wilmington will soon be seen by viewers worldwide.
"The Waterfront," which shot in and around Wilmington and Southport in 2024, will drop all eight episodes of its first season on Netflix at 3 a.m. Thursday, June 19. The cast includes Holt McCallany ("Mindhunter," "The Iron Claw"), Maria Bello ("NCIS"), Melissa Benoist ("Supergirl"), Topher Grace ("That '70s Show," the supervillain Venom in "Spider-Man 3") and North Carolina actor Brady Hepner.The show follows the saga of the Buckley family, owners of a fishing business as well as a popular restaurant in the small, fictional coastal North Carolina town of Havenport. By the time "The Waterfront" opens, however, the prominent Buckley clan has fallen on hard times and turned to drug dealing on the open seas as a way to maintain their empire.Whether or not it gets a second season, Wilmington, Southport and to a lesser extent Wrightsville Beach get plenty of screen time in season one. There are multiple scene-setting drone shots of downtown Southport by day and by night, as well as drone shots of Fort Fisher, downtown Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.
In Southport, the exterior and deck of Fishy Fishy Cafe play the Buckley's waterfront restaurant in numerous scenes, with other sequences set at Potter's Seafood, the Southport waterfront, Yacht Basin Drive, Morningstar Marina and the Southport City Pier. (The Buckley restaurant interior is actually an elaborate set.)
One deceased character is laid to rest during a funeral at the Southport Community Building, and the Havenport sheriff's office is the International Longshoremen's Local 1838 on 10th Street.In downtown Wilmington, the Chamber of Commerce just off the Riverwalk plays the exterior of the Havenport hospital, and two characters have dinner outside The Basics in the Cotton Exchange. The downtown post office plays the exterior of the Havenport courthouse, and William E. Poole Designs on Market Street is transformed into a hardware store, with Caprice restaurant and the Black Cat Shoppe seen in the background.
The old City Hall portion of Thalian Hall is repurposed as a bank, and one scene on South Water Street has Grace driving a vehicle in a direction that, to locals, is "the wrong way."
'The Waterfront' in 2024: Locations, casting info released as Netflix series starts production in Brunswick
Elsewhere in Wilmington, the Suites on Market portray a seedy motel, a house at 4011 Cherry Ave. plays the home of teenager Diller, and multiple scenes take place around Greenfield Lake.
The South Banks Channel Bridge at Wrightsville Beach pops up in a couple of scenes, and locals might be amused by a sequence that shows a character biking over a bridge at Wrightsville before cutting to him riding his bike in downtown Southport.It's not yet known whether "The Waterfront" will have a second season, or if a greenlit second season would shoot in Wilmington. Season one's finale, however, does set up a potential season two.
The show was created and co-written by Kevin Williamson, a native of New Bern who has said the show's story is loosely inspired by his late father, who spent time in prison. Williamson, who was also the showrunner of "The Waterfront," has a long history in Southeastern North Carolina.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Netflix's 'The Waterfront': Wilmington, NC, locations seen in the show
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