“The Waterfront” Ending, Explained: What Happens to Grady and the Buckley Family?

NEED TO KNOW

• Netflix’s The Waterfront, which premiered on June 19, follows the Buckley family as they turn to drug smuggling to keep their empire afloat

• The ending sees a face-off between the Buckleys and drug kingpin Grady (Topher Grace)

• During the season finale, the family’s lives are put in jeopardy

On The Waterfront, danger is around every dock.

The Netflix series — which premiered on June 19 — follows the Buckley family, who live in the small coastal North Carolina town of Havenport. As the owners of a fishing company and a restaurant, they’re one of the town’s richest and most powerful families. But unbeknownst to the locals, the Buckleys are in serious debt.

To save the family, son Cane (Jake Weary) decides to start using the family’s fishing boat to smuggle drugs. Initially, Cane thinks he’ll just do a few jobs to earn enough money to put the Buckleys in the black — but one night, two of the men on his ship go missing. That event drives the Buckleys down a dark path that eventually pits them in the middle of two warring drug kingpins, the Parker family and a notorious smuggler named Grady (Topher Grace).

At the end of the season, the Buckleys and the Parkers team up to destroy Grady’s empire, blowing up his warehouse and killing many of his runners. Grady is furious — which sets viewers up for the show’s big finale.

But what happens in the show’s final episode? Here’s everything to know about the ending of The Waterfront, including if it will return for a season 2.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Waterfront!

How does The Waterfront end?

After his drug business is destroyed, Grady kidnaps the Buckleys’ daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist), as well as her son Diller (Brady Hepner). He takes them out on his yacht before calling patriarch Harlan (Holt McCallany), hoping to lure them out to the ocean to murder them.

Before her family arrives, Bree tries to shoot Grady, but once Grady’s henchman captures Diller, she’s forced to make a choice: drop the gun or watch her son die. She throws her weapon away, giving Grady the chance to shoot her in the thigh and then throw her overboard. Luckily, Diller breaks free just long enough to toss her a deployable raft, which Bree manages to climb onto.

When Harlan and Cane finally arrive, Harlan makes himself known while Cane sneakily enters through the other side of the yacht. Harlan is confronted by an increasingly unstable Grady, who feels betrayed by the family.

“I want you to die knowing you’re the one to blame,” he yells. “You’re the one that led your family down this path. This isn’t me, this is you!”

Cane then sneaks up from behind and kills Grady’s men, freeing his father. The two Buckleys corner Grady at the bow of the yacht. Cane shoots him twice straight through the face, causing Grady to fall overboard.

What happens after Cane shoots Grady in The Waterfront finale?

After killing Grady, the Buckleys find Bree and bring her back to shore, where she recovers in the hospital.

Miraculously, despite being surrounded by bloodshed and warring drug lords, none of the Buckleys die. The final moments of the episode show the family gathered in the hospital caring for Bree, who seems to be making good progress in her recovery.

Will there be a season 2 The Waterfront?

There’s no official word yet on if The Waterfront will get a second season. However, creator Kevin Williamson — who’s also written hits like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Dawson’s Creek — said working on the series has revitalized his career.

“I do think I’m in a little bit of a second or third or fourth wind,” Williamson told TV Insider in June 2025. “I feel like I’ve had five careers. I honestly felt like I was ready to retire, and it turned out I wasn’t.”

Where does The Waterfront go from here?

If there were to be a season 2, there are a number of directions that Williamson could go in.

Despite the number of deaths throughout the season, there’s no mention of law enforcement or criminal punishment in the finale at all. So it’s possible that The Waterfront ending has actually placed the family in the eye of the storm, with the Buckleys now forced to live with the reality of their actions.

Additionally, the ending implies the family is still in a partnership with the Parkers, meaning they haven’t gotten out of their dire financial situation just yet.

Read the original article on People