The Waterfront is Netflix's latest hit. Here's the true story behind it.

Skyrocketing to the top 10 on Netflix, The Waterfront has made a big splash with viewers.

The Waterfront has quickly become one of 2025's most talked-about dramas, thanks to its gripping blend of family secrets and gritty crime set against a misty coastal backdrop.

Set in the fictional North Carolina town of Havenport, The Waterfront follows the Buckley family, one-time local fishing royalty who are now teetering on the edge of financial ruin.

As family patriarch Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) recovers from two heart attacks, his wife Belle (Maria Bello) and son Cane (Jake Weary) struggle to keep the family's fishing and restaurant businesses afloat.

But oh no! Their attempts to save the family legacy pull them into increasingly illegal territory. Oop!

Meanwhile, daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist) is battling addiction and the loss of custody of her son Diller (Brady Hepner) when she finds herself ensnared in a relationship that threatens to unravel the Buckleys for good.

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

The supporting cast includes Rafael L. Silva as Shawn West, Humberly González as journalist Jenna Tate, and guest star Topher Grace as the menacing drug lord Grady.

But what makes this series truly fascinating is the real story — and the real family — behind the Buckleys. The new series is actually based on a true story, with creator Kevin Williamson inspired by the life of his late father.

"I always told my dad I was going to write the story," Williamson told TIME.

"He said, 'Wait until I'm dead.'"

The true story and real family that inspired The Waterfront on Netflix.

While the Buckleys are fictional, their story is rooted in the real-life experiences of creator Kevin Williamson, best known for Scream and Dawson's Creek.

Williamson grew up in a family of fishermen in New Bern, North Carolina, a tight-knit coastal community. In the 1980s, the local fishing industry was devastated by overfishing, new environmental regulations, and economic downturns, leaving many families — including Williamson's — struggling to survive.

This mirrors the Buckleys' plight in the series, as their once-thriving fishing business faces ruin, pushing them towards illegal activities to stay afloat.

"I come from a long line of fishermen," Williamson told Tudum. "The fishing industry sort of upturned in the '80s — 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."

Holt McCallany portrays the father, Harlan. Image: Netflix.

According to Williamson, the financial devastation led to his father getting into dodgy dealings. His father, Wade, was approached with an offer to use his fishing boat to transport drugs, a decision made out of economic desperation.

"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."

The matriarch, Belle Buckley, is also inspired by Williamson's mother, Faye, who worked at a hotel and kept the family together.

"A lot of families have that strong matriarch at the centre that keeps everything floating," he told Tudum. "Mine kept everything going. I got to school and graduated college because of the fire she lit under my butt."

The character Cane, who stays behind in the small town, is described by Williamson as "who I would've been if [he'd] stayed" in his hometown, he told TIME.

Jake Weary portrays the son Cane in the series. Image: Netflix.

One of the show's most shocking scenes — when a character's head is dunked into shark-infested waters — was inspired by a real incident from Williamson's childhood.

At age 10, his uncle held him overboard during a fishing trip as a prank while sharks swarmed below, a memory that found its way into the series.

"It was a prank that my uncle played on me... There was that one day we woke up and there were just sharks everywhere," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

"My uncle said, 'I'll hold you.' And then, of course, he picked me up to hold me over, like an idiot."

Wade used his fishing boat to smuggle marijuana, an act that eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment for conspiracy to traffic over 20,000 pounds of marijuana.

"They didn't just arrest my dad. They arrested a whole bunch of people. It was part of a cartel. They were the low men in the operation," he said to TIME.

"There's always a grain of truth behind the fiction. I've often discussed creating this show with my father, and he encouraged me to tell our story."

Topher Grace plays a drug kingpin. Image: Netflix.

He said that his breakout TV hit Dawson's Creek was taken from him "growing up in a small town on the creek in North Carolina," he told Tudum.

(Side note: Who would have thought that Dawson's Creek and The Waterfront are from the same mind?)

However, The Waterfront is his most personal work yet. "It's a little more adult Kevin. It's me looking back on my life growing up. It's reflection, it's nostalgic, it's a little bit of a memory piece," he said.

"But it's also set in today's world, it's current, and it's a story about a broken family trying to fix themselves and not really knowing how."

Feature image: Netflix.