Netflix has released the full trailer for Below, a six-part sea-monster thriller starring Josh Hartnett — but the creature beneath the water may not be the series’ most unsettling detail.

Set in the struggling Newfoundland community of Snook’s Arm, Below follows fisherman Calvin Penney as an unidentified creature begins attacking the waters surrounding his hometown. The series receives its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10 before all six episodes arrive on Netflix on October 8.

The new trailer opens with a house being pulled across the sea, only for something beneath the surface to drag it underwater. Hartnett’s warning — “Stay away from the water” — establishes the immediate threat, but the story is also rooted in the real disappearance of isolated fishing communities.

The real history hidden inside the sea-monster story

Hartnett plays Calvin, a single father of three who is still carrying the trauma of his father’s unexplained death and the later loss of his wife. His eldest son, Wade, played by Stranger Things actor Charlie Heaton, remains at home while Calvin’s other children have moved to the mainland.

Calvin and Wade have adapted to the collapse of the local fishing economy by operating an Airbnb for visiting tourists. Calvin also collects iceberg ice to sell to vodka producers — an unusual livelihood that keeps him on the water and places him closer to the strange events developing offshore.

That background gives Below a more grounded conflict than its monster premise initially suggests. Creator Jesse McKeown told The Canadian Press that Calvin is “a fisherman who can’t fish because there’s no fish left.” The series connects the fictional crisis to overfishing, the cod moratorium and the economic uncertainty faced by remote coastal communities.

The town’s name also carries a striking real-world connection. The actual Snook’s Arm was resettled in 2018 after its final 10 residents accepted an agreement to leave. The fictional version in Below imagines a handful of residents, including Calvin and his sister Ruth, refusing to abandon the community six years later.

Government-supported resettlement moved residents out of numerous isolated Newfoundland communities between the 1950s and 1970s, while some modern communities have also voted to relocate. The image of a family towing its house across the water therefore reflects a recognizable part of Newfoundland history rather than a scene invented solely for horror.

McKeown said that the floating house represents a family carrying “the whole world” behind them. In the trailer, the sea creature turns that symbol of migration into a disaster by pulling the structure below the surface.

The story is also set during a Come Home Year, an initiative designed to encourage people with connections to Newfoundland and Labrador to return. Calvin’s adult children, Mary and Jay, come home from the mainland, creating a tension between his desire to rebuild the family and the economic forces pushing younger residents away.

What the trailer reveals — and what Netflix is concealing

Netflix has deliberately avoided identifying the creature. Official descriptions call it an “unidentified sea creature,” meaning online claims that it is a giant squid, sea serpent or another specific animal remain speculation.

Marine researcher Fonda Howander, played by Mackenzie Davis, arrives as evidence mounts that something is disrupting the surrounding ecosystem. She joins Calvin to investigate the creature and uncover secrets linked to the island’s past.

A particularly unusual storyline involving Fonda and a dead flamingo is based on Newfoundland history. McKeown told Entertainment Weekly that a Newfoundlander once mistook a flamingo for a goose and shot it. The preserved bird was later displayed in a St. John’s museum.

McKeown has described the production as an “old-school” creature feature influenced by filmmakers including Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter. However, he stressed that it is not simply a story about one man fighting a monster.

“It’s not just a straight man versus beast thing.”

The six-episode structure allows the series to examine the entire community, including how residents respond when their livelihoods, homes and family relationships are already under pressure before the creature appears.

Hartnett, who also serves as an executive producer, said he read the first two scripts in less than an hour. He described Calvin as a man hardened by repeated loss but still driven by love for his family and community.

The wider cast includes Willow Kean as Ruth Penney, Ruby Stokes as Mary Penney, Rohan Campbell as Jay Penney and Kaleb Horn as Noah. Natasha Henstridge and Newfoundland comedian and writer Mary Walsh also appear, with Walsh playing the town’s mayor. Directors Jamie Childs, Helen Shaver and Stephen Dunn worked across the six episodes.

Filmed on location in Newfoundland, the production uses the region’s ocean, rocky coastline and icebergs as more than scenery. McKeown said the contrast between an unforgiving landscape and the warmth of its communities shaped the series after he spent nearly two decades considering a Newfoundland-set project.

Below opens TIFF’s 2026 Primetime programme and is scheduled to screen at the festival on September 10, September 11 and September 19. Netflix will then release the complete limited series worldwide on October 8, rather than using a weekly schedule.

The trailer arrives during a busy period for genre entertainment, alongside developments surrounding Hideo Kojima’s PHYSINT project and the latest announcements expected from the September Nintendo Direct.

For now, the monster’s identity remains hidden. What Netflix has revealed is that Below is using that creature to explore a more realistic fear: what happens when a community’s economy, population and way of life are disappearing at the same time.

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