Netflix’s new creature thriller Below may look like the kind of series that started life as a bestselling horror novel, but there is no book behind it. Created by Jesse McKeown, the six-part Netflix series is an original story, built around a mysterious sea creature, a struggling Newfoundland fishing community and a family carrying decades of unresolved grief.
What makes the series particularly intriguing is how much of its strange world comes from reality. While the monster itself belongs to fiction, McKeown has drawn heavily on Newfoundland’s history, folklore and distinctive coastal culture. Even one of the show’s most bizarre details, a flamingo connected to the story, has a real-life Newfoundland connection.
With Josh Hartnett leading the cast, Below arrives on Netflix with all six episodes on October 8, 2026.
Is Below Based on a Book?
No. Below is an original Netflix production rather than an adaptation of a novel, comic or other existing property.
Creator Jesse McKeown confirmed that point when speaking with CTV News around the series’ festival premiere, describing the show as “not based on anything else.” The project also marks an important step in his career, as it is his first time serving as showrunner on a series he created.
McKeown is already familiar to genre television audiences. He previously worked on The Sinner and The Umbrella Academy, including serving as co-showrunner on the latter’s fourth season.
The writing team brings plenty of genre experience of its own. Karen Walton, known for Orphan Black, writes the series alongside Perry Chafe of Saint-Pierre and Natty Zavitz of Edging. Netflix also confirms Walton, Chafe and Zavitz as the writers behind the six-part thriller.
The Sea Monster Has a Strange Connection to Newfoundland History
One of the most unusual details surrounding Below sounds like something invented specifically for a supernatural thriller. According to McKeown, it actually happened.
In an interview with What’s on Netflix, McKeown explained that the flamingo featured in the story is inspired by a real incident. A flamingo somehow ended up in Newfoundland, where a random person shot it. The bird eventually became part of the collection at The Rooms, the museum in St. John’s.
McKeown said the story stayed with him because of what it suggested about a changing environment. How could a pink flamingo associated with warmer regions end up in Newfoundland?
That real-life detail became part of the broader inspiration for the series. McKeown has emphasized that, despite how strange and supernatural Below becomes, its story grows out of Newfoundland history and folklore that has existed for generations.
The result is a creature story grounded in a very specific place. Rather than dropping a generic monster into an interchangeable coastal town, Below uses Newfoundland itself as a major part of the story.
A Monster Story About a Community Under Pressure
The supernatural threat is only one layer of Below.
The series has been described as a form of North Atlantic noir, bringing together monster horror with issues affecting Newfoundland communities. Declining livelihoods, climate change and families being displaced all sit beneath the central mystery.
The premise follows Calvin Penney, a Newfoundland fisherman whose way of life is already under pressure. When a mysterious creature begins terrorizing his community, the threat becomes both personal and collective.
Netflix describes the series as a story about family, community, change and the struggle to protect a vanishing way of life.
That gives Below a different identity from a straightforward creature-of-the-week series. Early reactions have highlighted its campfire-story quality, with the show drawing on the feel of a tall tale while remaining rooted in a part of the world rarely placed at the center of a major supernatural thriller.
There are recognizable genre influences in the mix as well, with the series being compared to the tension of Jaws combined with supernatural horror. But the Newfoundland setting and local folklore give the story its own character.
Josh Hartnett Leads the Below Cast
At the center of the story is Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, a stubborn but big-hearted fisherman from Newfoundland.
Calvin is still haunted by the unexplained death of his father decades earlier. He is also trying to hold his fractured family together while protecting the community that depends on the sea.
Netflix describes him as a single father of three living in Snooks Arm, Newfoundland. Hartnett has said he was immediately drawn to the material, reading the first two scripts in less than an hour.
Hartnett is joined by Charlie Heaton, best known for playing Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things. Heaton plays Calvin’s son, Wade Penney.
Mackenzie Davis, whose credits include The Martian, Blade Runner 2049 and Black Mirror, plays Fonda Howander, a visiting marine researcher who joins Calvin as they investigate the mystery beneath the water.
The Penney family is rounded out by Ruby Stokes as Mary, Rohan Campbell as Jay and Willow Kean as Ruth. Kaleb Horn plays Noah.
The wider cast includes Natasha Henstridge and Joshua Close.
The Cast Went Into Newfoundland to Find the Right Tone
The production placed considerable emphasis on authenticity.
Rather than relying entirely on green screens to create the ocean, the team filmed on Newfoundland’s actual waters. Cast members also spent time learning about the local culture and dialect.
Heaton, in particular, spent time in bars outside St. John’s while preparing for the role. The experience helped him become familiar with the region and its distinctive speech patterns. Hartnett also immersed himself in the local environment, including listening to a Newfoundland radio station featuring fishermen discussing their work.
The decision to film on location went beyond simply giving the show attractive scenery. The Newfoundland landscape is central to the atmosphere of Below, and the production wanted the cast to experience the same environment their characters inhabit.
The result is a setting where the ocean feels like part of the story rather than a backdrop.
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When Does Below Premiere on Netflix?
There is no long wait for the full story.
All six episodes of Below arrive on Netflix on October 8, 2026. The series is being released as a six-part limited series, making it possible to watch the entire story in one sitting or over a single weekend.
With Hartnett at the center, Charlie Heaton and Mackenzie Davis alongside him, and a story that mixes Newfoundland folklore with a supernatural creature mystery, Below is taking a familiar horror setup into an unusually specific setting.
The sea monster may be fictional, but the world around it is firmly rooted in Newfoundland. That combination of local history, family drama, environmental concerns and supernatural horror is what gives the series its most distinctive appeal.