If Succession had a Southern drawl, a fishing boat, and a family bible with blood on it — and you mixed in a little Outer Banks and Ozark for good measure — the result would basically be The Waterfront, Netflix’s latest original series that just dropped its first trailer today.
Set in the salt-stained, power-soaked town of Havenport, North Carolina, The Waterfront follows the Buckley family — local royalty whose grip on the coastal town stretches from the fishing docks to the local restaurant scene. But like all dynasties, the Buckleys are facing their own reckoning. Patriarch Harlan Buckley (played by the always-intense Mindhunter veteran Holt McCallany) is recovering from a pair of heart attacks, and as he recedes from the throne, the next generation starts making power moves.
Son Cane (Jake Weary) and matriarch Belle (Maria Bello) dive into the family’s business affairs with the enthusiasm of sharks who smell blood in the water. Meanwhile, the family’s black sheep — daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist) — is clawing her way back from addiction and trying to win back custody of her son. But her personal redemption arc takes a dark detour when she gets involved in a dangerously complicated relationship, one that threatens to blow up what’s left of the Buckley legacy.
The series comes from writer, executive producer, and showrunner Kevin Williamson (of Scream and Dawson’s Creek fame), and it’s less soap, more slow-burn Southern noir. Over eight twist-filled episodes, secrets gather like storm clouds behind a church steeple, and the line between survival and sabotage gets blurrier by the hour. The show is also inspired by true events, which only makes the betrayals sting more and the drama hit harder.
And let’s be honest: Who doesn’t love a dysfunctional rich family trying to keep up appearances while everything rots beneath the surface?
The Waterfront arrives less than a month from now (on June 19), and if the trailer’s any indication, you’ll want to buckle up for a summer of Southern-fried scheming, dynastic backstabbing, and more than a few skeletons washed up from the past.
