Netflix Adds Josh Hartnett Miniseries About A Town Terrorized By A Sea Monster

Netflix

Do you like giant sea monsters and handsome leading men? Then Netflix has the show for you. "Below," a new original series starring Josh Hartnett ("Black Hawk Down," "The Bear"), has just been added for subscribers to enjoy. The eight episode show hails from Jesse McKeown, who was previously a showrunner on "The Umbrella Academy" (which ended after four seasons on Netflix back in 2024). As for Hartnett? This is the latest endeavor in what's become a fruitful several years for him as an actor.

"Below" centers on Calvin Penney (Hartnett), a fisherman living in a small Newfoundland town who's still haunted by his father's mysterious death. When an unidentified sea creature begins terrorizing his hometown, Calvin must fight to hold his close-knit community together. Determined to keep his son Wade (Charlie Heaton) and the rest of his family safe, he teams up with a visiting marine researcher, Fonda (Mackenzie Davis), to confront the creature and reveal the island's buried secrets before it's too late.

Hartnett only just scored a theatrical hit with "Verity," which topped the charts while Tom Cruise's "Digger" bombed at the box office. This also marks a return to a familiar genre for the actor, who has long been associated with horror throughout his long career. Just a couple of years ago, he played the lead in M. Night Shyamalan's twisted serial killer movie "Trap." But that was far from his first rodeo.

Indeed, Hartnett made his acting debut in a long-running horror movie franchise when he co-starred in 1998's "Halloween H20." Ever since then, he's consistently returned to the genre, appearing in films like "The Faculty" and "30 Days of Night." Now, Hartnett has returned to horror on the small screen, as he's done in the past with shows like "Penny Dreadful."

Along with Josh Hartnett, "Below" boasts an impressive supporting cast that includes Mackenzie Davis ("The Martian"), Charlie Heaton ("Stranger Things"), Natasha Henstridge ("Species"), and Rohan Campbell ("Halloween Ends"), among others. That, coupled with the intriguing premise, makes this a fine prospect for horror fans.

As for the setup of "Below," that came directly from creator Jesse McKeown's real-life experiences traveling to Newfoundland. Speaking to Netflix's Tudum, here's what he had to say about it:

"I've been coming to Newfoundland for many years, and it's become a part of my life. I just always felt like I wanted to set something here, that this would be a great place for something big and something kind of epic. It's such a unique landscape and such a rugged, dangerous, isolated, scary place in a lot of ways. But then there's also this other side to it, which is that the community is so warm and the people are so funny and unique and there are so many eccentricities about the place."

Netflix, notably, has done a lot of work in the horror genre, so much so that there have been some truly great Netflix original horror movies produced during its time as a purveyor of exclusive media. But it's been just as fruitful on the TV side, with gems like "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities" and "Archive 81" waiting to be discovered.

There's also the Mike Flanagan Netflix horror shows, including "Midnight Mass" and "The Haunting of Hill House." As for whether "Below" clears the bar for quality set by those series? You, dear reader, can watch it right now and decide for yourself.

"Below" is currently streaming on Netflix.