Dive Into Netflix’s 2026 Supernatural Thriller Below: Cast, Plot, Release Date, More
Netflix’s next thriller takes aim at the deep blue, casting the ocean as the villain — as if it needed any help.
The first teaser for Below leans hard on dread: flashes of a rugged coastline, a tight-knit village on edge, and Josh Hartnett’s Calvin Penney bracing for something that clearly isn’t human. It arrived on July 28, and even without jump scares, the mood is unmistakable — something is closing in long before the show says what it is.
That mood isn’t an accident. The series was shot entirely on location in Newfoundland, where the production filmed real ocean sequences alongside the Coast Guard instead of building them on a soundstage. Creator Jesse McKeown shaped the show around his own ties to the province, and he says the setting does as much storytelling as the creature itself.
“It’s such a unique landscape and so rugged, dangerous, isolated, and scary in a lot of ways,” McKeown tells Tudum, “But then there’s also this other side to it — the community is so warm, and the people are so funny, and there are many eccentricities about the place.”
Cast and characters
Hartnett anchors the series as Calvin, a fisherman trying to keep his family safe. Charlie Heaton plays his son Wade, and Mackenzie Davis joins partway through as Fonda, a marine biologist drawn into the mystery.
- Josh Hartnett — Calvin Penney
- Charlie Heaton — Wade Penney
- Mackenzie Davis — Fonda
- Ruby Stokes — Mary
- Rohan Campbell — Jay
Also in the ensemble: Natasha Henstridge and Joshua Close.
Story setup
Calvin’s town is rattled after a mysterious creature begins terrorizing the coastline. As Wade develops symptoms no one can explain, Fonda becomes the one person capable of tracing what’s really happening. The isolation that defines Newfoundland isn’t just backdrop here — it’s part of the threat. Davis has described her on-screen chemistry with Hartnett as unlike anything she’s done before, hinting at a tense, intimate core to the survival story.
From the trailer to the production choices, Below favors slow-burn unease over cheap jolts, letting the ocean feel like the true antagonist. Shooting at sea and in real communities gives the series a grounded texture to match the creeping paranoia on screen.
Release plans
Below will premiere in the Primetime program at the Toronto International Film Festival, a less common festival slot for a straight-to-streaming series. The show then arrives worldwide on Netflix on October 8.