While previewing Netflix’s The Waterfront, Jake Weary teased how the show compares to Kevin Williamson‘s past hits.
“Kevin does such a fantastic job at creating so many different worlds in all of his work. You have The Vampire Diaries and Dawson’s Creek. Then he has the horror world and he’s so adaptable,” Weary, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly about getting to join the Williamson TV universe. “That’s what makes him so unique as a creator. So no, The Waterfront was not what I expected at all.”
Weary considered himself “lucky” that he got to work with Williamson at the exact right time.
“Growing up, I had seen a few Dawson’s Creek episodes. My sister was a massive fan and she always used to say that I looked like Joshua Jackson from the show. So I’d seen a few episodes of that show and then I had worked with Zach Roerig — who was on The Vampire Diaries — on a soap opera. Then he got on The Vampire Diaries so that was my connection to that show,” he recalled. “I actually was shooting a movie in Vancouver when they were shooting the pilot for The Vampire Diaries. So we all got together and I think Twilight was also shooting at the same time and so was Percy Jackson. All of us got to know each other and that was just really cool to see all these worlds come together.”
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Years later, Weary is now the star of Williamson’s new Netflix series The Waterfront. Based on Williamson’s life, The Waterfront introduced Us to a dysfunctional family as they struggle to keep their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire afloat by turning to drug smuggling.
“When you read the pilot episode, you have a complicated cast of characters and they’re constantly being kind of thrown into an environment that is uncomfortable for them. That’s always interesting to see — especially in a drama,” Weary told Us. “But the thing that I really loved about reading the pilot was that it was funny and there are these moments of levity that actually made me laugh out loud. That’s that element of the show that I think is really what’s going to be the thing that brings viewers back.”
Weary was thrilled at the chance to try something new after becoming known for darker roles, including Deran Cody in Animal Kingdom.
“Kevin really pushed me to smile more and be more charismatic and charming. That was something that I wasn’t used to. I had played this broody character for six years that internalized everything. Cane is very external and wears his heart on his sleeve,” he teased of his character. “That was really cool to get into that headspace and change things up a bit.”
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When viewers meet Cane, he isn’t exactly built for the life of crime. Weary found that to be exactly what “pulled” him toward the role.
“There’s something about him and his look. All these characters, they come from privilege. They’re very much used to getting what they want rather. So when things don’t go their way is where the drama ensues,” he noted. “That’s what’s really interesting about Cane is that he’s so used to things going his way. So when all of the proverbial s*** hits the fan, all of a sudden he’s kind of reverting back to being a child.”
Weary added: “That’s what makes this character so unpredictable and he’s desperately trying to cling on to this life that he maybe didn’t originally plan on having. It’s pretty complicated.”
The Waterfront is currently streaming on Netflix.
