Netflix’s Below brings a sea monster to Newfoundland
A house disappears into the water in Below, Netflix’s six-episode creature thriller filmed in Newfoundland.
Photo credit: Jan Thijs/Netflix.
A house is being towed across the water at the beginning of Below, Netflix’s new six-episode creature thriller set in Newfoundland. Jesse McKeown, the series’ creator and showrunner, has connected that image directly to Newfoundland and Labrador’s history of resettlement, when residents left small and isolated communities for larger centres.
The house soon disappears beneath the water, and Below turns to the threat facing the people of Snooks Arm, a fictional Newfoundland fishing community where a mysterious sea creature has begun attacking the town. Josh Hartnett stars as Calvin Penney, a fisherman trying to protect his family as the community considers what its future might look like. The series premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10 and arrives on Netflix Oct. 8.
The fictional community takes its name from a real Newfoundland place. The Canadian Press reports that Snook’s Arm was resettled in 2018, when its final 10 residents accepted a resettlement deal. McKeown has spoken about drawing on that history while developing Below, along with Come Home Year, which brings Calvin’s adult children back from the mainland as their father tries to persuade them to stay.
Fishing is part of the family story as well. Calvin is dealing with a livelihood that no longer provides what it once did, while his son Wade, played by Charlie Heaton, belongs to a younger generation with a different relationship to the industry. Those pressures are already present when the creature appears in the waters surrounding Snooks Arm.
McKeown told Netflix that he has been coming to Newfoundland for years and that the province has become part of his life. His wife is from Newfoundland, and he told The Canadian Press that they live there on and off and that he had wanted to make something in the province for about 18 years.
His television credits include 19-2 and The Umbrella Academy. He told The Canadian Press that Below is also the first series he has showrun from a project he pitched himself, after previously working on shows that originated with other creators.
Netflix lists Karen Walton, Perry Chafe and Natty Zavitz among the series’ writers. Chafe was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador, and now lives in St. John’s. His television credits include Republic of Doyle, Frontier, Caught, Son of a Critch and Saint-Pierre. Jamie Childs, Helen Shaver and Stephen Dunn directed the series.
Newfoundland and Labrador is represented in the cast as well. Willow Kean, who plays Calvin’s sister Ruth Penney, is originally from Labrador West and lives in St. John’s, where her work has included acting and writing. Mary Walsh is also among the cast, as is Natasha Henstridge.
Henstridge was born in Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1974 and lived in South Brook before her family moved to Fort McMurray, Alberta, when she was five. Species became her first major Hollywood role in 1995; three decades later, she is part of the cast of a creature thriller filmed in the province where she was born.
The wider cast includes Mackenzie Davis as Fonda Howander, Rohan Campbell as Jay Penney and Kaleb Horn as Noah, alongside Hartnett, Heaton and Ruby Stokes.
Netflix confirms that Below was filmed in Newfoundland, including scenes shot on the ocean rather than against a green screen. Heaton said the cast worked on the water with the Coast Guard and that he kayaked in the ocean during filming.
The production later moved to Ontario for post-production. FilmOntario lists Below among the Canadian projects at TIFF this year and confirms that its post-production was completed in the province.
Below premiered at TIFF on Sept. 10 as part of the festival’s Primetime programme. All six episodes arrive on Netflix Oct. 8.
