‘Widow’s Bay’ Meets ‘The Meg’ in Netflix’s New Thriller Series

Published Sep 16, 2026, 10:53 AM EDT

Taylor Vollman is a contributor at Collider. She has long quipped, “T.V. is my name, TV is my game.” Fortuitous initials aside, at the heart of a tired joke is a simple truth — she has a lifelong passion for television. And along with it, an affinity for movies, music and pop culture. 

In a childhood time capsule, she had listed Friends, PB&J Otter, and Days of Our Lives among her favorite shows. But her tastes have not narrowed with age. Her viewing habits span TV Land classics, network hits, buzzy reality shows and streamer critical darlings. 

Hoping to merge this passion with her love of writing, Taylor earned a bachelor’s in media arts and design with a minor in film studies from James Madison University. After working in marketing for years, she wanted to sharpen her skills and went on to graduate with a master’s in journalism from Georgetown University. Taylor has since pursued entertainment writing and reporting. 

Widow’s Bay has been the breakout hit of the year, inviting viewers to visit its titular New England island and the evil entity that inhabits it. While audiences wait for Season 2, Netflix is offering up a replacement with its upcoming thriller, Below. The 6-episode miniseries follows a small town in Newfoundland that is being terrorized by a mysterious sea creature. The trailer teases misadventures that include mysterious icebergs, threats of aquatic monsters, and some of the residents seemingly going mad.

Created by Jesse McKeown, Below stars Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, a single father and fisherman, who teams up with Fonda Howander (Mackenzie Davis), a marine researcher from out of town, to protect his coastal community. The series also stars Stranger Things alum Charlie Heaton. Below is tonally unique, blending the island mystery of Widow’s Bay with the threat of a large, aquatic monster as seen in The Meg franchise. Both projects mirror the show’s themes, including a protective father figure at the center.

‘Below’ Lacks ‘Widow’s Bay’s Slapstick Humor

Image via Netflix

Below is the natural successor to Widow’s Bay, also a mystery set on a foggy island that is secluded from many of today’s modern conveniences. The Emmy-winning series follows Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) as he tries to rid the titular island of its curse. The Apple TV hit helms from Katie Dippold, a former Parks and Recreation writer who blended genres to create the horror comedy.

But crossover viewers shouldn’t expect Below to be a replica. While premiering the series at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Hartnett told The Hollywood Reporter, “There’s a totally different tone in this show. It’s much more, sort of human-oriented and less, less sort of overtly comedic but very funny in its own way as well.”

While the series is being billed as a thriller, showrunner McKeown is no stranger to infusing comedy into his work. He previously wrote and produced on another Netflix series, The Umbrella Academy. The apocalyptic superhero series sprinkled in dark humor while touching on themes of loss, race, and addiction.

Josh Hartnett Is Fighting a Mysterious Sea Creature Like in ‘The Meg’

Image via Netflix

Hartnett’s Calvin is fighting to save his family and town from an unknown monster in Below. While the series’ general aesthetic, town meetings, and trips on a boat are reminiscent of Jaws, there is the insinuation this monster isn’t any typical shark. As a boy, Calvin saw something in the water moments before witnessing his father’s death. The trailer shows his late father in a floating house that is dragged underwater. Decades later, he is once again facing a mysterious creature that threatens those he loves.

This larger, looming threat is reminiscent of The Meg, with the Jason Statham-led franchise centering on prehistoric giant sharks, megalodons, that were unintentionally released from the depths of the ocean. It remains to be seen if the creature being teased in Below is some kind of shark or something more fantastical, but it clearly has the strength to pull down floating houses, rapidly consume large pockets of fish, and tip boats.

Across the two films, Statham’s Jonas Taylor becomes a stepfather and he has to prioritize his stepdaughter's safety. This protective paternal role can be seen in Widow’s Bay, Below, and The Meg.

Newfoundland Is the ‘Heartbeat’ of ‘Below’

Newfoundland is “the heartbeat of the show,” Hartnett told Deadline at TIFF. Below is set in Snook’s Arm, which is on the brink of having to relocate before the events of the series. McKeown has long wanted to use the area as a backdrop for a project, telling Netflix it is “such a rugged, dangerous, isolated, scary place,” but one with warm, eccentric people. He explained to Deadline that their version of Snook’s Arm is actually an amalgamation of similar communities throughout the region.

Hartnett revealed to Deadline that he was shocked places like this existed. He told the outlet, “The more we can bring people into this world and have them experience this, this kind of beautiful kind of family on the edge of the world. It would be a remarkable place to set this type of story.”

Setting it in Newfoundland required the cast to don the distinct regional accents, except for Davis, whose character is visiting the area. But they soon realized the small population spread across a large area of land resulted in many variations. “So, very specific dialects and there’s many of them, so we had to choose which one was going to work best, I think, for the family,” Hartnett told The Hollywood Reporter. “And then all work together to kind of make sure that we were in the same place.” He also explained that while he and Heaton have strong accents, his other kids played by Ruby Stokes and Rohan Campbell have subtler accents after being on the mainland for a while.

Widow’s Bay, The Meg, and Below may all depict fantastical events, but at their core, they are stories about families and communities trying to protect each other. Netflix promises Below will blend “local myth, thrilling suspense, and heartfelt humor” while delving into themes of “family, community, and change — both terrifying and inevitable.” Just in time for Halloween, Below will premiere on Netflix on October 8.

Cast

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  Calvin Penney

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  Fonda Howander

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  Wade Penney

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  Rohan Campbell

  Jay Penney