Josh Hartnett & Charlie Heaton's New Netflix Thriller is 'Outer Banks' Meets 'Stranger Things'

'Below' is the perfect fall mystery show.

Below takes place in a small town in Canada, but this small town isn't what it seems. Calvin (Josh Hartnett) and the rest of the residents are terrified of a sea creature that keeps attacking. No one is quite sure how to move forward — until Calvin decides to team up with a researcher (Mackenzie Davis) to fight back and protect the community they love.

It's got the coastal small town vibe of Outer Banks with the otherworldly mystery of Stranger Things (not to mention the fact Charlie Heaton's in the cast). Count me in!

“I read the first two scripts in less than an hour,” star Josh Hartnett tells Netflix's Tudum. “The voice was so clear, the concept was so engaging, and the character was fantastic. I’d never read anything like it before. I had never read anything that was set in Newfoundland before. I didn’t understand the long history of Newfoundland being its own country and having its own dialect and its own very specific ancestry.”

And the cast is led by Josh Hartnett and Charlie Heaton.

In addition to Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, the cast is made up of some Netflix favorites. Mackenzie Davis (Station Eleven) stars as Fonda Howander, a visiting marine researcher who teams up with Calvin. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) plays Calvin's son Wade Penney alongside Willow Kean (The King Tide) as Ruth Penney, Ruby Stokes (Bridgerton) as Mary Penney, Rohan Campbell (The Monkey) as Jay Penney, and Kaleb Horn (Chucky) as Noah.

You can watch all six episodes of the series on Netflix October 8, 2026.