A gritty, soapy thriller of a TV series whose locations showcase Wilmington is now being seen by viewers worldwide.

"The Waterfront," which shot in and around Wilmington and Southport in 2024, dropped all eight episodes of its first season on Netflix on Thursday, June 19.

The show is a beautifully shot and compelling — if at times over-the-top — saga of the Buckley family, owners of a fishing business as well as a popular restaurant in the small, fictional coastal North Carolina town of Havenport. By the time "The Waterfront" opens, however, the prominent Buckley clan has fallen on hard times and turned to drug dealing on the open seas as a way to maintain their empire.

From left, Brady Hepner as Diller Hopkins, Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley and Topher Grace as Grady in "The Waterfront."

The show was created and co-written by Kevin Williamson, a native of New Bern who has said the show's story is loosely inspired by his late father, who spent time in prison. Williamson, who was also the showrunner of "The Waterfront," has a long history in Southeastern North Carolina.

Horror movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which he wrote, shot in Southport in 1996. The pop culture juggernaut/teen drama "Dawson's Creek," which Williamson created and co-wrote, shot in the Wilmington area from 1998-2003, helping launch the careers of actors Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and James Van Der Beek.

Interestingly, with its mix of bloody violence, dark themes and soap-opera-style family and interpersonal drama, "The Waterfront" comes off almost like a cross between the two.

Williamson is also known for creating the "Scream" horror movie franchise, and was a writer and executive producer of the fifth "Scream" movie, which shot in the Wilmington area in 2021.

In "The Waterfront," Holt McCallany ("Mindhunter," "The Iron Claw") stars as Harlan, the granite-faced, liquor-swilling Buckley family patriarch who's eager to jump back into the drug biz after a health scare.

Holt McCallany as Harlan Buckley and Maria Bello as Belle Buckley in "The Waterfront."

Maria Bello ("NCIS") plays Harlan's long-suffering but deeply complicit wife, Belle, while Jake Weary ("Animal Kingdom," "As the World Turns") plays their beleaguered son, Cane, who's trying to help run the legal and illegal sides of the family business and is torn between his wife (Danielle Campbell) and his first love (Humberly González).

Melissa Benoist ("Supergirl") plays Cane's recovering-drug-addict sister, Bree, who's trying to work her way back into her family's good graces after losing custody of her teenaged son, Diller, played by North Carolina actor Brady Hepner.

The biggest name in "The Waterfront" is probably Topher Grace ("That '70s Show," the supervillain Venom in "Spider-Man 3"), who chews the scenery relentlessly as an erratic, ominously jocular drug dealer named Grady.

It's not yet known whether "The Waterfront" will have a second season, or if a greenlit second season would shoot in Wilmington. Season one's finale, however, does set up a potential season two.

Local locations

Whether or not it gets a second season, Wilmington, Southport and to a lesser extent Wrightsville Beach get plenty of screen time in season one. There are multiple scene-setting drone shots of downtown Southport by day and by night, as well as drone shots of Fort Fisher, downtown Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.

In Southport, the exterior and deck of Fishy Fishy Cafe play the Buckley's waterfront restaurant in numerous scenes, with other sequences set at Potter's Seafood, the Southport waterfront, Yacht Basin Drive, Morningstar Marina and the Southport City Pier. (The Buckley restaurant interior is actually an elaborate set.)

One deceased character is laid to rest during a funeral at the Southport Community Building, and the Havenport sheriff's office is the International Longshoremen's Local 1838 on 10th Street.

Melissa Benoist as Bree Buckley and Rafael Silva as Shawn West in "The Waterfront."

In downtown Wilmington, the Chamber of Commerce just off the Riverwalk plays the exterior of the Havenport hospital, and two characters have dinner outside The Basics in the Cotton Exchange. The downtown post office plays the exterior of the Havenport courthouse, and William E. Poole Designs on Market Street is transformed into a hardware store, with Caprice restaurant and the Black Cat Shoppe seen in the background.

The old City Hall portion of Thalian Hall is repurposed as a bank, and one scene on South Water Street has Grace driving a vehicle in a direction that, to locals, is "the wrong way."

Elsewhere in Wilmington, the Suites on Market portray a seedy motel, a house at 4011 Cherry Ave. plays the home of teenager Diller, and multiple scenes take place around Greenfield Lake.

The South Banks Channel Bridge at Wrightsville Beach pops up in a couple of scenes, and locals might be amused by a sequence that shows a character biking over a bridge at Wrightsville before cutting to him riding his bike in downtown Southport.

Not many Wilmington actors get lines, but musical theater stalwart Jon Tyler Berry shows up as the henchman to a drug dealer, and Gray Hawks plays a doctor who treats McCallany's character after the gruff patriarch receives some bizarre injuries.

North Carolina actor featured

North Carolina actor Brady Hepner as Diller Hopkins in "The Waterfront."

"The Waterfront" provides the biggest role yet for at least one North Carolina actor, Brady Hepner, who plays teenager Diller Hopkins, grandson of Buckley family patriarch Harlan Buckley and son to troubled drug addict Bree Buckley.

A native of Winston-Salem, Hepner's previous roles include small but prominent turns in Wilmington-shot horror film "The Black Phone" (as a murdered teen) as well as 2024 Oscar winner "The Holdovers," starring Paul Giamatti, in which Hepner played an ill-tempered prep schooler.

During a recent interview at the Hotel Ballast in downtown Wilmington, Hepner, 19, said he was a soccer kid growing up, and that he never thought about acting until seeing hit Netflix show "Stranger Things" at age 13.

"I went to my parents, and I was like, 'Hey, I want to be an actor,'" Hepner said. "They flat out, told me, 'No. You're going to play soccer.'"

Within a year his folks had relented, and Hepner was soon getting cast in high-profile projects.

"The Waterfront" is Hepner's first TV series, however, and while he said it was "a big learning curve," he relished the opportunity to dive more deeply into a character than he ever had before.

"The first impression you get of (Diller) is this very angst-filled, almost rage-filled teenager," Hepner said. "I kind of expected him to stay like that, (but) what I thought was really cool is that Kevin (Williamson) gives this entire arc to this character who you might see as 'just' the son or the grandson."

Hepner also got to share scenes with veteran actors, including McCallany, Grace and Benoist.

From left, Topher Grace as Grady, Josh Crotty as Nate and Brady Hepner as Diller Hopkins in "The Waterfront."

"It's almost like winning a jackpot," Hepner said. "It was kind of like a free master class course in acting."

Hepner lived in Wilmington in 2024 while "The Waterfront" was shooting, "and I tried to eat at every restaurant that I could," he said, often visiting downtown Wilmington hotspot Seabird with castmates.

After "The Waterfront" premieres June 19, Hepner will appear in vampire horror film "Abraham's Boys." Written by "The Black Phone" screenwriter Joe Hill, son of writer Stephen King, "Abraham's Boys" hits theaters July 11.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: A Netflix series shot in North Carolina is now streaming. Here's what to know