Below Trailer: Josh Hartnett Faces a Mysterious Threat Beneath Newfoundland
Something is moving beneath the waters off Newfoundland, and in Below, Josh Hartnett’s troubled fisherman is determined to find out what it is before the threat destroys his family and his community.
The new six-episode thriller, created by Jesse McKeown, follows a remote Newfoundland fishing town that comes under attack from an unidentified sea creature. As fear spreads through the community, Calvin Penney must confront both the creature and the painful history that has haunted him for decades.
Hartnett leads the series alongside Mackenzie Davis and Charlie Heaton. Below premieres on Netflix on Oct. 8, with all six episodes arriving at once.
Watch the Below trailer
The trailer immediately sets an ominous tone. A house being towed across the water is suddenly pulled beneath the surface, turning what begins as an unsettling journey into something far more disturbing.
From there, the footage hints at a community facing a threat it cannot understand. Hartnett’s Calvin is drawn into the mystery as strange events begin to unfold around him, while the people closest to him are placed in danger.
The official trailer is available on YouTube:
The trailer was released ahead of the series’ Oct. 8 Netflix debut.
A mystery rooted in Newfoundland
For McKeown, Newfoundland was central to the idea from the beginning.
The creator, who has worked as a writer on The Umbrella Academy and 19-2, has been visiting Newfoundland for many years. The landscape and the character of its communities eventually convinced him that the region was the right setting for a story that could feel both intimate and epic.
Newfoundland gives Below a distinctive backdrop. Its isolated coastline, rugged terrain and dangerous waters create a natural setting for a story about an unknown creature, while the warmth and eccentricity of the local community provide a strong contrast to the horror unfolding offshore.
McKeown says he had long wanted to tell a story set there, drawn to the combination of isolation and close-knit community life.
Hartnett was equally taken with the material. He says he read the first two scripts in less than an hour, impressed by the clarity of the writing, the concept and the character of Calvin.
The actor also found the setting unfamiliar in a way that immediately interested him. Before joining the production, he says he had never read a story set in Newfoundland and did not fully understand the region’s history, dialect and distinct ancestry.
What is Below about?
At the center of the story is Calvin Penney, played by Josh Hartnett.
Calvin is a stubborn but big-hearted fisherman living in a small Newfoundland community. He is also a single father of three, and his family life has already been fractured by years of hardship.
His personal history is tied to another mystery. Calvin has never escaped the shadow of his father’s unexplained death decades earlier.
Everything changes when an unidentified creature begins terrorizing the town.
Calvin is forced to fight for the survival of the community he calls home while trying to protect his son Wade and the rest of his family. To understand what is happening, he joins forces with Fonda Howander, a visiting marine researcher played by Mackenzie Davis.
Together, they begin investigating the creature and the secrets buried beneath the island’s history.
The series combines suspense, local mythology and humor with a family drama about people facing a community in transition. At its heart are questions of family, community and change, including the frightening and unavoidable changes that come with time.
Below consists of six episodes.
The cast of Below
Josh Hartnett plays Calvin Penney, a fisherman from Snooks Arm, Newfoundland. The character is described as a big-hearted but deeply burdened bayman and a father desperately trying to hold his fractured family together.
Hartnett describes Calvin as someone who has experienced setbacks and tragedies since childhood. Those experiences have left him feeling cursed and uncertain about whether he has a place in his own community.
The actor’s previous credits include Pearl Harbor, Penny Dreadful and Black Hawk Down, as well as Trap, Oppenheimer and The Virgin Suicides.
The main cast also includes:
- Mackenzie Davis as Fonda Howander, known for Station Eleven and Speak No Evil
- Charlie Heaton as Wade Penney, Calvin’s son, known for Stranger Things and The Souvenir Part II
- Willow Kean as Ruth Penney, known for The King Tide and Away from Everywhere
- Ruby Stokes as Mary Penney, known for Lockwood & Co and Sunny Dancer
- Rohan Campbell as Jay Penney, known for Halloween Ends and The Monkey
- Kaleb Horn as Noah, known for Revival and Chucky
Netflix’s official cast listing also includes Natasha Henstridge and Mary Walsh.
Behind the story and production
McKeown serves as showrunner, with Karen Walton, Perry Chafe and Natty Zavitz credited as writers. Walton’s credits include Orphan Black, Chafe worked on Saint-Pierre, and Zavitz is known for Edging.
The episodes were directed by Jamie Childs, Helen Shaver and Stephen Dunn.
Childs has directed The Sandman and His Dark Materials. Shaver’s credits include The Penguin and Station Eleven, while Dunn is known for Closet Monster and Queer as Folk.
The executive producers include McKeown, Jessica Rhoades through her company Pacesetter, Chris Hatcher, Josh Hartnett, Jamie Childs, Louise Sutton and Sharon Hall.
Rhoades is known for producing projects including Black Mirror and Station Eleven. Hatcher’s credits include The Madness and Sweet Angel Baby, Sutton has worked on Black Mirror and Waiting for the Out, and Hall’s credits include The Expanse and Utopia.
Netflix Canada content directors Danielle Woodrow and Tara Woodbury have described the series as a thriller with the emotional core of a family drama, emphasizing its focus on community, resilience and adaptability.
The Newfoundland setting
Below was filmed in Newfoundland, Canada, giving the production the opportunity to use the region’s actual landscapes as part of the story.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s coastline is more than scenery in the series. The isolated environment and surrounding ocean are closely connected to the story’s sense of danger and uncertainty.
Dr. Andrew Furey, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, praised the province’s history, landscapes and production crews, saying they provided an ideal setting for a project of this scale.
Laura Churchill, chief executive officer of Picture NL, the province’s film commission, likewise highlighted Newfoundland and Labrador’s landscapes, skilled crews and storytelling traditions.
The production also made extensive use of the real environment rather than relying entirely on visual effects. According to Netflix’s earlier behind-the-scenes coverage, the cast and crew filmed on Newfoundland’s ocean, including scenes involving Coast Guard boats and actual ocean kayaking.
That approach adds another layer of authenticity to a series whose story depends heavily on the relationship between the characters and the water surrounding their community.
The story begins with a house disappearing beneath the water
One of the most striking images in the trailer is also the sequence that helped establish the tone of the series.
A house is being moved across the sea when something suddenly drags it underwater.
For McKeown, the sequence was conceived as a dreamlike opening that could introduce both the family’s uncertain situation and the danger waiting beneath the surface.
The image captures what Below is setting out to do: combine an intimate story about a family and its community with a larger mystery that threatens everything around them.
The threat remains deliberately mysterious, but the trailer makes clear that the danger will not stay confined to the ocean.
Hartnett and Heaton immersed themselves in Newfoundland
The actors also spent time getting familiar with the region and its culture.
Hartnett worked on the local accent by listening regularly to a Newfoundland radio station where fishermen discussed their trade.
Heaton, meanwhile, spent time in bars outside St. John’s, absorbing the local culture and getting to know people in the area. He has spoken about the warmth of the Newfoundlanders he encountered during production.
For Heaton, filming on the ocean was also a new experience. Although he had worked on practical locations during Stranger Things, he had never spent this much time working directly on the open sea.
Davis described her relationship with Hartnett in the series as similar to that of two partners investigating a mystery together. She has also said the combination of humor, scares, intelligence and forward momentum was part of what attracted her to the project.
When does Below premiere on Netflix?
Below premieres on Netflix on Oct. 8, 2026.
All six episodes of the limited series will be available to watch on release day. Netflix lists the show as a TV-MA thriller starring Josh Hartnett, Mackenzie Davis and Charlie Heaton.
Set against the isolated coastline of Newfoundland, Below brings together a family drama, a community under threat and a mystery lurking beneath the ocean. For Calvin Penney, finding out what is beneath the water may be the only way to save the people he loves.