Latest news with #BuckleyFamily
Forbes
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Is ‘The Waterfront' Based On A True Story? Meet The Family Who Inspired The Buckleys
The Waterfront. (L to R) Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley, Jake Weary as Cane Buckley in episode 105 ... More of The Waterfront. Netflix's new southern crime drama The Waterfront has already proven to be a hit for the streamer. The series is currently the No. 1 TV show on the site, and fans are already wanting a second season. However, what viewers might not know is that the series is actually based on a true story and is deeply personal to the show's creator. The freshman series comes from famed screenwriter Kevin Williamson, best known for the beloved teen drama Dawson's Creek and cult‑favorite horror films like Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 4 (2011), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and more. At the forefront of Williamson's latest project is the Buckley family, who are struggling to regain control of their North Carolina fishing empire. After patriarch Harlan Buckley suffers two heart attacks, his wife Belle and son Cane must do whatever's necessary to keep the family business from crumbling beneath them. 'As their attempts spiral out of control and into treacherous waters, Harlan steps back in to take command," the official synopsis reads. "Facing her own demons, Buckley daughter Bree – an addict in recovery who's lost custody of her son Diller – finds herself entangled in a complicated relationship that could threaten the family's future forever. As you're watching Season 1, you might be wondering: Is the Buckley family real? Was Harlan Buckley an actual person, or is he based on someone else? Here's everything to know about the inspiration behind The Waterfront. Is The Waterfront Based On A True Story? The Waterfront. Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley in episode 101 of The Waterfront. The Waterfront draws inspiration from creator Kevin Williamson's family and his childhood in coastal North Carolina. Like patriarch Harlan Buckley, Williamson's father 'got tempted to do some things that weren't so legal and got him in some trouble," he told Netflix Tudum. He further clarified that unlike Harlan, his father wasn't a member of an organized crime syndicate. "My dad was a very, very good man," he said. Just like in the series, Williamson's father, Wade, was a hard-working fisherman, while his mother, Fayee, worked at a hotel. 'I come from a family of fishermen — not just my dad, but the entire family,' he said in an interview with 'Everyone I knew was a fisherman.' However, in the 1980s, fishing began to decline due to factors like overfished waters and strict environmental regulations. As a result, Williamson's father struggled to provide for his family and, like many other fishermen in the area, was drawn into a difficult situation. 'Someone came along and said, 'If you do this one thing, you can make all this money.' And it was hard to say no,'' the creator told Tudum. He explained that his father agreed to run drugs on his fishing trawler but later got into trouble. 'He got caught, he served his time, he got out, and I graduated." Kevin's father, Wade Williamson, was arrested for conspiracy to traffic 20,000 pounds of marijuana. Ultimately, he served less than a year behind bars and the arrest was part of a larger sting operation in the community. 'They didn't just arrest my dad,' Williamson recalled to 'They arrested a whole bunch of people. It was part of a cartel. They were the low men in the operation.' As for the other characters, Belle (Maria Bello), the matriarch of the Buckley household, is representative of Williamson's love for his mother and strong women, according to Tudum. Benoist's troubled Buckley daughter, Bree, is meant to symbolize how broken people put themselves back together. 'That addictive part of me, that's where I wrote from,' he told 'I took her to the extreme, but it's personal.' What Scenes In The Waterfront Are Based On Real Moments In Williamson's Life? The Waterfront. Jake Weary as Cane Buckley in episode 101 of The Waterfront. Several moments in The Waterfront are recreations of Williamson's childhood. For example, the terrifying shark scene in Season 1, Episode 1, titled 'Almost Okay,' is directly inspired by his experience. When he was 10 years old, Williamson went out on a boat with his father and uncle. When they woke up the next morning, "as far as you could see, there were sharks,' he recalled. 'My uncle held me over to see them. It terrified me. That one little moment always stayed in my head. It traumatized me to such a degree that I knew one day I was going to write that scene.' Where Was The Waterfront Filmed? The Waterfront Season 1 Williamson, who grew up in the small town of Oriental, N.C., chose the North Carolina coast as the backdrop for The Waterfront. The fictional town of Havenport was filmed in Wilmington, NC, and nearby Southport, NC. 'I absolutely love North Carolina. Through and through, I'm a Carolina boy,' Williamson said to 'Southport looks very much like how I grew up.' He added that the production frequently rented real fishing boats from Oriental to utilize them as stunt boats. 'It's a seafood fresh-off-the-boat type of town,' he told the site. 'That's where I got the idea for the Buckley fish house. It's common in little port towns: restaurants attached to fish houses.' Season 1 of The Waterfront is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Creator of Scream Has a New Netflix Hit. It's Salty, Soapy, and Fully Adult.
The Waterfront If things continue at their current pace, all of television is in danger of turning into a genre that I like to call 'Yellowstone, but … ' Of course, we have the Taylor Sheridan show's many prequel spinoffs, but their success also seems to have inspired waves of Westerns and dramas about locally powerful families who have fallen on hard times. The latest 'Yellowstone, but … ' show is The Waterfront, now streaming on Netflix, where it has immediately shot to No. 1 on the charts. This is a story set in a seaside town, following the locally powerful Buckley family, owners of a fishery, a restaurant, some beautiful houses, and undeveloped tracts of coastline, who have—you guessed it—fallen on hard times. Like the Duttons trying to hold on to their Yellowstone Ranch, the Buckleys need to arrest their downward mobility; their attempts to do so without betraying their beliefs, or one another, will be the meat of the story. The Waterfront is a Kevin Williamson show, set (like his Dawson's Creek) in coastal North Carolina, so it's full of salty, beautiful people who do soapy things. But unlike Dawson's Creek and Williamson's latter-day hit The Vampire Diaries, this is a full-on adult show, with no teenage romance, and with moments of hyperviolence that startled me into audible exclamations of 'Oh!' Adventuresome Netflix viewers looking for 'Outer Banks without the treasure hunt' will likely find themselves confused, and hopefully minimally traumatized, by this one. The Waterfront stars Holt McCallany, the granite-faced father-figure standout from Mindhunter and The Iron Claw, as the patriarch Harlan Buckley, whose own father was involved in the drug trade, but who has been running 'clean' businesses for a couple of decades, ever since his father's illegal activities ended in his death. Maria Bello plays Harlan's wife, Belle, who tolerates her husband's drinking and affairs, for reasons that are somewhat hard to parse. Jake Weary is his golden-boy son, Cane, a former football player and reluctant participant in all this crime who becomes the heart of the show, and Melissa Benoist is his daughter Bree, an addict in recovery who, we find out, has good reason to hate her family. Will the Buckleys, having trouble keeping their businesses in the black, get back into running drugs? You bet they will! And for the sake of the show, it's a good thing they do, because that's what brings Grady, a drug dealer played by Topher Grace, into the mix, significantly livening up the action. Grace has gotten really good at being in on the trick that his face plays on you. You see those features and think 'preppy; professional-managerial; Connecticut.' But there's something creepy about a guy that clean-cut; a Topher Grace villain knows it. Here, as Grady, Grace creates a really weird—maybe not always successful, but always interesting—villain. Topher Grace and Holt McCallany are the most recognizable actors on the show, and The Waterfront has placed them in opposition to one another, playing contrasting versions of powerful manhood. After the Buckleys eliminate the middleman they've been working with, they find Grady, who has a big drug operation set up in a farmhouse heavily populated by hired badasses, and try to do business with him. Grady at first looks like a vest-wearing tech bro, but we find out he has—as Harlan says—'no code.' We first see how disturbing he is when Grady orders his men to turn a minigun mounted on a truck on a henchman who's displeased him and is running away across a field. Grady jokes about how loud the gun is, and mocks how the guy's body jumps around as it's riddled with bullets, while Harlan stares, shocked. Grady is there to show us that some people shouldn't have power, to draw a contrast between his infatuation with it and our heroes' supposed reluctance to use it. But he's also kind of funny, which is good, because the dominant feeling you get from spending time in the world of the Buckleys is one of hungover, self-serious misery. (In that way, this show is, indeed, 'Yellowstone, but … ') Out of some sociopathic impulse of friendliness, or maybe in order to control the situation, Grady cozies up to the Buckleys, showing up at their restaurant, convincing their teenage grandson Diller (Brady Hepner) to go on a hunting trip, and directly asking Harlan if they can become like family. When Harlan, Grady, and Diller walk in a field, hunting quail, the series best gets at the contrast it's trying to draw between these two men. Grady is a guy who loves violence but doesn't really know how to use a gun. Harlan tries to teach Grady how to aim, how to be disciplined with his hunting rifle; Diller, taught by Harlan, already knows. McCallany's calm, paternal intensity, heightened by being thrown into this situation with an unpredictable and dangerous person, ramps up by the moment, until he gives off a wave of gravitas that makes you believe that indeed, Harlan is the kind of father who can be so-so, but who has (as Bree puts it) 'moments of spectacular.' But just as often, when McCallany and Grace face off, the manic energy rolling off Grady crashes into the stone-faced Harlan in a way that's less effective, giving McCallany less to do. In one scene, as the two debate the terms of their relationship, Grady describes Harlan as having 'resting stress face'; Grace pulls down the sides of his mouth, making a perfect simulacrum of McCallany's. That's funny! But it also makes Harlan into more of a caricature—something the show needs to break down, rather than build up, since it's picked such a perfect Big Daddy actor for its Big Daddy character. This first season of The Waterfront sets more tables than the waitresses at the Buckleys' seaside restaurant. We see Cane's moral dilemmas, Bree's tragic history. But the best seeds it sows are in the relationship between Harlan and Belle. Belle is the kind of wife who accepts the appearance of Harlan's out-of-wedlock son with barely a blink, but also one who tries, behind Harlan's back, to sell a piece of land in a development deal that goes against Harlan's principles but that would have gotten the family out of the drug business for good. This scheme aside, in this season, the parents are mostly on the same page. But by the end, we see that we may get a lot of McCallany vs. Bello next time around. That's a good idea. Yellowstone always suffered because John Dutton had no plausible opposition inside his family. (Jamie does not count.) If The Waterfront is about a family managing its own decline, it only makes sense that in such a family, Mom and Dad would, quite often, find themselves fighting.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Waterfront Boss Kevin Williamson Talks Netflix Drama's Fatal Finale, Looks Ahead to Possible Season 2
After eight episodes of deception, betrayal and gunshots to the face, the Buckley family's drama reaches an explosive conclusion in the finale of Netflix's The Waterfront, leaving fans to wonder… what's next? More from TVLine Sirens Dominates Nielsen Streaming Top 10 Chart in Debut Outer Banks Promotes Two Ahead of Final Season - See the Remaining Pogues (Sniff!) in First Season 5 Photos Dave Nemetz Reviews The Waterfront: Netflix's Soggy Soap Drowns in Dumb Clichés - Now, YOU Grade It! One thing's for sure, after getting killed by Cane during the family's mission to rescue Bree, we've definitely seen the last of Topher Grace as unhinged heroin smuggler Grady. 'We wrote that character with Topher in mind,' series creator Kevin Williamson tells TVLine. We wanted someone who was lovable and fun and funny … and to turn them into a psychopath. It's a lot of fun. Give a funny man a gun and see what he does with it.' But just because one Buckley nemesis has been taken out, that doesn't mean the family is out of the woods. Given their laundry list of questionable actions, there's no shortage of ne'er do wells looking to work with (or against) the Buckleys in future seasons. And from what we see in the finale, there's also plenty of trouble brewing within the family itself. Below, Kevin Williamson addresses some of those lingering finale developments, teasing how they might affect a second season of The Waterfront. Grade the Netflix series below, then read on for what the future could hold for the Buckley family. After killing Grady on the boat (two shots to the face oughta do it!), Cane has a brief-but-crucial moment with Harlan at the hospital. 'Buckley Seafood was a family business — me and my father, side by side,' Harlan tells Cane. 'That's how I've always known it. That's why I wanted you to stay. I didn't want to be alone.' Cane doesn't say anything back, but his silent nod and teary eyes speak volumes. 'I think they they peeled a few layers of the onion,' Williamson says. 'I don't think they've gotten to the core answer of who they are to each other as father and son, but I do think Cane got an answer that he wanted. He has always wondered why his father treated him a certain way and why that dynamic was what it was. Cane is wrestling with the roads not taken. He wanted one thing out of life and ended up with something else, and he's got to get right with it. Part of that means fixing things with his father, so I think he has mended a lot with his dad. There's a lot more understanding, but I don't know if they've reconciled completely. There's going to be more stumbling for them to do as father and son before they fully repair that relationship.' The finale is especially harrowing for Bree, who wakes up on Grady's boat after being kidnapped, only to discover that her son Diller has stowed away to rescue her. Grady ends up shooting Bree in the leg and pushing her overboard, but thanks to Diller's quick-thinking, she remains afloat on a life raft. After tying her leg with a belt to stop the bleeding, Bree hallucinates a conversation with her younger self about witnessing her grandfather's murder. 'You were just a girl, you couldn't have done anything,' she says. 'I've got you.' With her last ounce of strength, Bree sends up a flare for help, and the finale ends with her recovering in the hospital. It's an important breakthrough, especially when she refuses heavy pain medication to avoid risking her sobriety, but Bree's life is far from fixed. 'We've just sort of tapped into the surface of her trauma from her past and how that could heal her,' Williamson says. 'But will it? We're a puzzle, as human beings, and I think she still has some missing pieces.' One of the finale's biggest question marks is where things stand between Cane and Peyton, following his brief affair with Jenna. When he tells his wife that it's over, and that he wants them to be good again, she seems strangely unfazed. 'You and me, we're fine, understand?' she says as she kisses him and beings to prepare his dinner. 'I'm gonna see to it.' She says a lot without actually saying much at all, so let's go to Williamson for some much-needed intel: 'I think Peyton knows what she wants, and she's going to get it,' Williamson says. 'Early on, she makes this big statement about how she's never going to be like Belle, but I think she might be wrong about that. The journey for her is going to be, well, how does she fix things? How is she going to make her husband love her? I think it's going to be a great journey for her. It's going to be very surprising, and she's going to take a few left turns.' Following Wes' botched land deal with the Buckleys, the finale ends with Emmett handing Wes over to Belle on a silver platter. More specifically, we see Wes being tied to a chair and tortured, as Emmett reintroduces Belle — this time as Wes' new boss. 'In the first season, Harlan is the patriarch of the family, and Belle has always taken her place, puppeting him and controlling what happens to the Buckley family behind the scenes,' Williamson explains. 'All of her little shenanigans have been done behind Harlan, and in the shadows of Harlan, and now she's ready to shove him out of the way, stand front and center, and really take the reins.' Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Is ‘The Waterfront' Coming Back For Season 2? Here's The Promising News
The Waterfront. Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley in episode 101 of The Waterfront. Netflix's latest Southern crime drama is already climbing the platform's charts shortly after its release. Finished all eight episodes of The Waterfront and want more of the Buckleys? Keep reading to learn the latest on Season 2 from the show's creator and Netflix. The Waterfront, which is inspired by true events, follows the Buckley family as they try to regain control of their failing North Carolina fishing empire. But as their business begins crumble while patriarch Harlan Buckley suffers from two heart attacks, his wife Belle and son Cane must do whatever's necessary to keep the family enterprises afloat. 'As their attempts spiral out of control and into treacherous waters, Harlan steps back in to take command," Netflix's synopsis continues. "Facing her own demons, Buckley daughter Bree – an addict in recovery who's lost custody of her son Diller – finds herself entangled in a complicated relationship that could threaten the family's future forever. Just one day after the debut of its first season, The Waterfront has already claimed the No. 1 spot on Netflix's U.S. TV chart. The finale delivered a shocking twist and teased the future of the Buckley family, leaving many viewers wondering what comes next. Here's everything to know about a potential Season 2 of The Waterfront, including its renewal status, what it could be about, which characters could return and more. Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Waterfront Season 1. Will There Be The Waterfront Season 2 On Netflix? The Waterfront. (L to R) Maria Bello as Belle Buckley, Jake Weary as Cane Buckley in episode 107 of ... More The Waterfront. Netflix has not yet renewed The Waterfront for a second season. The series recently premiered on the platform on June 19, and the decision will likely depend on how well the first season performs over the coming weeks and months. While talking to various media outlets, series creator Kevin Williamson has been optimistic about a second season. 'I would love very much a chance to write Season 2, because I feel like I'm just getting started with this story and this family,' he recently told Williamson also shared what his hopes are for Season 2 in an interview with TV Insider. "The end of the first season feels like it's still moving because you don't want it to stop, right? So that's a good sign, I think, for Season 2," he said. "I would like to see it just keep moving. I would like to see the family come together to stave off some universal villain. In a different interview, the creator teased to Tudum what the next installment could be about, and how it will shift from Harlan and Cane's story to another character. 'This season was about Harlan and Cane — how they reconciled their differences and how they're going to move forward,' he told Tudum, hinting that Belle will likely taking a bigger role in the future. 'Now Belle is a little more front and center. She's not living in the shadows.' In Season 2, viewers will also hopefully see more of Shawn Wilson (Rafael L. Silv) – Harlan's secret son and Cane's half-brother. 'Just getting to work with Rafa more would be incredible. I love Rafa dearly. The whole cast is incredible. There's a bond there that can't be broken. Even if we don't do a Season 2, we're all gonna be friends for life. I love them so dearly,' he told TV Insider. 'Rafa, too, that's my boy. He's such an incredible actor, and that would be cool to see more of and Cane and Shawn for Season 2, for sure.' Which Characters Could Return For The Waterfront Season 2? The Waterfront. (L to R) Humberly González as Jenna Tate, Jake Weary as Cane Buckley in episode 103 ... More of The Waterfront. All of the main cast of The Waterfront could reprise their roles for Season 2, especially the Buckleys. However, Topher Grace is not expected to return, as his character, Grady, was shot and killed by Cane in the Season 1 finale. What Could The Waterfront Season 2 Be About? The Waterfront. Maria Bello as Belle Buckley in episode 106 of The Waterfront. With Belle Buckley taking on a greater role in a potential Season 2, the second installment of The Waterfront could revolve around her relationship with the Parkers. In the finale, the crime family has seemingly chosen her to be their point of contact. 'She's much more rational. She's not going to make decisions based on her emotions. She's too smart and levelheaded for that,' Williamson said to Tudum. 'They see a true partnership with her in a way that they'll never have with Harlan.' While this may be good for Belle, Harlan may have mixed feelings upon learning that his wife is working with the enemy without anyone knowing. Harlan's portrayer, Holt McCallany, told Tudum that he believes his character would be willing to talk through Belle's latest betrayal. 'Sometimes people make the wrong decisions for the right reasons,' he explained. 'If someone hurts Harlan, he has to ask, 'Was it their intention to hurt me? Or was it their intention to protect me?' Even though he wouldn't like what Belle did, she did it out of love for him and their family.' Another promising update? Williamson hasn't just mapped out a second season – he's also planned a third installment of the crime drama. 'I'm hoping I get the chance to tell those stories. I do think it's a fun show, and it's unlike anything I've ever done. And I just hope people enjoy it,' he told ScreenRant. When Could The Waterfront Season 2 Be Released On Netflix? The Waterfront. (L to R) Melissa Benoist as Bree Buckley, Rafael Silva as Shawn West in episode 102 ... More of The Waterfront. The first season of The Waterfront began filming in Wilmington, NC in 2024, before premiering on Netflix in June 2025. Season 2 could potentially arrive sometime in late 2026 or early 2027 – depending on when (or if) Netflix officially greenlights the next installment and when filming begins. Stay tuned for more updates on The Waterfront Season 2. Season one of The Waterfront is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
The Review Geek
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Has The Waterfront been renewed for Season 2? Here's what we know:
Renewed or Cancelled? The Waterfront is the latest soapy crime drama on Netflix, armed with a dysfunctional family, a simple premise and an intriguing cast of characters. Having watched the first season in its entirety, you may be wondering if this one has been renewed or cancelled. Well, wonder no more! What is The Waterfront about? The Waterfront is a Southern-set Netflix drama that follows the Buckley family, once rulers of Havenport's fishing industry. After patriarch Harlan Buckley suffers multiple heart attacks, the family business starts to sink. In a desperate bid to stay afloat, Harlan's wife Belle and their son Cane secretly get involved in drug smuggling—drawing the attention of the DEA after a major shipment disappears. As the season progresses, this dynamic takes on a slightly more sinister edge, as Harlan is pulled back into the company and the pair start working with shady characters. We have extended coverage of The Waterfront across the site, including recaps for every episode. You can find those HERE! Has The Waterfront been renewed for Season 2? At the time of writing, The Waterfront has not been renewed for season 2. Generally Netflix would gauge numerous metrics before renewing a show, including how many people initially watch it and then looking at the drop-off rate. With some shows, cancellations or renewals happen quickly. Other times, it can take months before a decision over a show's future is made. So far, Aniela has had a mixed reaction online from critics and audiences alike. Given the way this show is set up, and the ending we receive, we're predicting that this will be renewed for a second season. The series has lots of potential, and we also know that Netflix tend to shine a much more favourable light on soapy dramas like this. Having said that, we do also know that completion rate is a massive metric for these streamers so that could play a pivotal role here. For now, we'll have to wait and see what happens so take our prediction with a pinch of salt! What we know about season 2 so far: Barely anything is known about The Waterfront season 2 at this point given Netflix haven't officially renewed or cancelled this one. Given the first season's conclusion, it does seem likely to get the nod for another season though but we'll have to wait and see. Seeing Cane and Harlan find newfound respect for each other, while Diller and Bree also manage to go from estranged to respecting each other are two of the better moments for the finale. When it comes to Belle though, it seems like she's prepped to be the new leader and it will almost certainly cause friction with Harlan. And what is Peyton planning? She seems way too calm after everything that's taken place with her husband; she could also be planning something too. The final episode does end on a pretty big cliffhanger here so if this is picked up, we can expect another 8 episodes, and perhaps more dramatic mishaps and a new player in the drug game too.. We will update this page when more information becomes available, so be sure to check this page out in the near future. Would you like to see The Waterfront return for a second season? What's been your favourite part of the show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
