As the creator behind such pop-culture landmarks as the Scream movies, Dawson’s Creek, and The Vampire Diaries, Kevin Williamson‘s legacy is already formidable and pretty much set in stone. This year, the influential genre-savant has returned to TV with The Waterfront, an ensemble family crime drama that feels equal parts effortless and tailor-made to dominate Netflix.
The Waterfront echoes a lot of what’s made shows like Yellowstone and Ozark modern sensations while retaining the DNA of what’s made Williamson’s output so distinct for decades. It feels like a natural, if unexpected, progression for Williamson’s career, and the results are flat-out brilliant. This is one of the best and most deliriously entertaining new shows of 2025. It’s also good enough to potentially be regarded as one of Netflix’s flagship series, especially if follow-up seasons deliver on the promise of its premise.
What Is ‘The Waterfront’ About?
The setting is coastal Havenport, North Carolina, where the Buckley family is considered regional royalty. Spearheaded in contemporary times by patriarch Harlan (Holt McCallany) and wife Belle (Maria Bello), the Buckleys are the face of a seafood empire with multiple branches. There’s also the other Buckley family business: drug running. Harlan holds the reins there, too, with reluctant support from his conflicted son, Cane (Jake Weary).
A fatally botched run with unclear implications does nothing to help Harlan’s chronic heart condition and overall failing health. He’d probably be in even worse shape if he knew his restaurant’s newest bartender (Rafael L. Silva) is actually his son from outside his marriage who’s come seeking clarity, or that his daughter, Bree (Melissa Benoist), has been in a romantic relationship with DEA Agent Marcus Sanchez (Gerardo Celasco) since getting out of rehab. Double crossings and uneasy new alliances in the drug business thrust the Buckleys into uncharted territory.
‘The Waterfront’ Is Kevin Williamson Firing on All Cylinders, to Riveting Effect
Oh, how gratifying it is to see Williamson at the top of his game. About three full decades after his self-aware, deftly snarky yet sincere Scream screenplay changed the horror genre forever, the screenwriter has stepped into full-blown family crime drama that bears some semblance to the aforementioned Ozark and the Sheridanverse. (It’s certainly worth noting that The Waterfront is reportedly inspired by true events, including Williamson’s family experiences in the North Carolina fishing industry.) The series feels extremely commercial in the sense that it’s likely to appeal to a very wide audience, much like the popular shows it evokes, but it’s a wild and intimate enterprise all its own, with wicked twists and unusual albeit appealing characters.
Above all, The Waterfront is here to show us a good time. Williamson’s trademark dialogue rips; it’s wise and eloquent, lived-in, and often quite funny (though never jokey, thank God). There’s some gratuitous nudity, tense action sequences, and some fleeting moments of shocking and very well-timed gore — but it all just works, and Williamson’s clearly having fun. The Waterfront occasionally flirts with outlandishness, but it’s stone-faced when it needs to be. It’s easy to care about what happens, to an addicting extent, and it all leads to a finale of sustained suspense. You’ll likely be tempted to watch the entire eight-episode season, all of which was provided for review, in one sitting.
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Jake Weary and Melissa Benoist Are Standouts in ‘The Waterfront’s Terrific Cast
Much like the flagship Netflix production values, the performances here are spotless, though there are two notable standouts. Weary’s understated, emotionally precise performance shoulders a lot of the drama and holds much of the narrative together; it’s a new career-best from an actor who previously stood out in projects like It Follows and the TV adaptation of Animal Kingdom.
Bree’s recovery from addiction gives the narrative a lot of its thrust, and The Waterfront has realized the complexities of the disease (very much a Buckley family disease) with more believability and realism than much of the media that have taken a swing at the topic, even plenty of prestige, Oscar-bait films. Much like her family members, the script doesn’t let Bree off the hook for awful things she’s done in the past, and yet she’s ultimately the most sympathetic character, with much of the drama coming through her fight for custody or merely a relationship with estranged teen son Diller (Brady Hepner). Bree is a vivid mess of regret and resentment (at one point her mother dismisses her for talking “in riddles”), but Benoist is incredibly charismatic and gives the show a heartbeat.
As The Waterfront is, unapologetically, elevated pulp, it’s at least feasible that some may not fully credit its ample artistic attributes. Then again, Williamson’s breakthrough in 1996 didn’t really get the credit it deserved from critics at the time. Originally greeted as merely good or a cut above the rest, the deconstructionist, giddy Scream has gradually become widely accepted as one of the greatest and most consequential American films. This is a creator with a unique instinct and knowledge of how genre fare can hook audiences, someone who knows just how seriously to take everything while not losing sight of the fact that people tune into genre movies and shows to have fun and escape reality. Easy to emphatically recommend to a wide audience, The Waterfront is the mercilessly entertaining flex of a showrunner who knows exactly what he’s doing.
The Waterfront Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
Kevin Williamson’s Netflix crime drama is one of the best and most entertaining shows of the year, with the Scream and Dawson’s Creek creator at the top of his game.
- Release Date
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June 19, 2025
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Marcos Siega
- Writers
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Kevin Williamson
- The Waterfront is as entertaining as anything on TV right now.
- The show boasts uniformly excellent and charismatic performances, with Melissa Benoist and Jake Weary standing out in particular.
- Williamson’s dialogue is as good as ever.