The Waterfront – Series Review | Netflix

THE WATERFRONT on Netflix is a new crime thriller series with eight episodes. It’s character-driven with a great cast, and gets extremely brutal at times. Perfect for fans of series like Ozark and Bloodline. Read our The Waterfront Season 1 review here!

THE WATERFRONT is a new Netflix series with eight hour-long episodes. I was hooked on it immediately. Not least thanks to the wonderfully fleshed-out characters that all tend to operate in a lot of gray areas.

It’s a crime thriller series that reminded me of both Ozark and Bloodline, which I now realize is something I’ve really been missing. Lots of messy and messed-up relationships between family members and old friends. Also, lots of crime and quite a few murders.

Continue reading our The Waterfront Season 1 review below. Find it on Netflix from June 19, 2025.

It’s a family affair… of crime

When The Waterfront begins, it’s with a smuggling run that goes bad. Then we meet the Buckley family, who seem to run the entire small waterfront town of Havenport, North Carolina. The family runs the local fishing industry and the town’s restaurant scene.

Also, they employ a lot of the locals.

This means they’re actually a lot more liked than you might expect. There’s also a history of crime in the family, but not any longer. Unfortunately, things are changing fast, and their Havenport fishing empire is struggling to stay afloat. Yes, pun very much intended.

Then the health of patriarch Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) is threatened by a heart attack (or two), which means his wife Belle (Maria Bello) and their son Cane (Jake Weary) have to find new ways of securing income.

Also, everyone seems to know that Belle is as much in charge as her husband. I mean, there’s a reason Maria Bello is portraying this woman!

Someone in the family, who is not in charge, is the daughter, Bree (Melissa Benoist). She’s a recovering addict who lost custody of her teenage son during her most recent period of being under the influence. She’s fighting to get back into the good graces of her mom, but it’s tough.

Inspired by true events from Scream creator

The Waterfront has eight very strong episodes that tend to end on some wild cliffhangers to keep you watching. However, even without these cliffhangers, I’d want to keep watching to see what happens to the various characters.

The series comes from the very successful showrunner Kevin Williamson, who created Scream and The Vampire Diaries series, but also gave us Dawson’s Creek. No matter how you feel about any of these, he is definitely brilliant at writing character-driven stories.

For The Waterfront, the story is even inspired by true events. Of course, there’s a difference between saying something is “based on” as opposed to “inspired by”. This one is set in North Carolina, which isn’t necessarily where the events that inspired it took place.

Getting to know these characters – and seeing how they dominate a small town – quickly reminded me of the Murdaugh family. They have already been featured in various documentaries of the true crime variety.

Check out the Netflix documentary about the Murdaughs right here >

Watch season 1 of The Waterfront on Netflix now

Kevin Williamson is the writer, executive producer, and showrunner of The Waterfront. And it has all the best trademarks of something created by Kevin Williamson: A strong core plot that’s character-driven and evolves in both unexpected and quite wild ways.

Also, it does get very violent and brutal. This is a thriller series with crime elements, which includes murder, but also harm done in self-defence. Officially, the 8 episodes are 1 hour each, but some of them are closer to the 45-minute mark. And yes, it’s very binge-worthy.

Alongside the core cast of Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Jake Weary, and Melissa Benoist as the Buckley family, we also have a wonderful supporting cast. This includes Rafael L. Silva, Humberly González, Danielle Campbell, and Brady Hepner.

Plus, you can look forward to guest star appearances from Dave Annable, Topher Grace, Michael Gaston, Gerardo Celasco, and Zach Roerig. Overall, the casting of this series is as good as both Ozark and Bloodlines, which speaks volumes, at least in my book.

The Waterfront series is out on Netflix globally from June 19, 2025.

Details

Writer / Executive Producers / Showrunner: Kevin Williamson
Starring: Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Jake Weary, Melissa Benoist, Rafael L. Silva, Humberly González, Danielle Campbell, Brady Hepner
Guest Starring: Topher Grace, Dave Annable, Michael Gaston, Gerardo Celasco, Zach Roerig