The Waterfront, which follows the Buckley family and their attempts to maintain their North Carolina fishing empire, is based on the life of Williamson's father, Wade, a fisherman. “We've never really seen a story about the commercial fisherman told before in any sort of dramatic way in a family drama,” he told Tudum.

While it's set in the fictional town of Havenport, the new drama series is indeed based on a real story - one pulling from the creator's past. The eight-episode series centers around the Buckleys, who rule the local fishing industry and some of the town's biggest restaurants.

I always write about what I know,” Kevin Williamson, creator of the new Netflix series The Waterfront, told Tudum in June 2025. That’s an ideology he employed while creating his hit 2000s series Dawson’s Creek and Vampire Diaries,