Netflix Is Officially Bringing Back A Forgotten Villain Next Month

Published Sep 21, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep." Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. The greatest TV show monsters ever created have become iconic, instantly recognizable, and often referenced in other TV shows. This can apply to reinterpretations of villains in literature, like Count Dracula, as well as newer inventions, like The Last of Us' terrifying Clickers. That said, with the drastic advances in special effects technology over the past decade and the enduring success of the thriller and horror genre, it is surprising that one of the most popular villains of all time has largely been forgotten, until now. This villain is not the only star making a comeback, with Josh Hartnett's upcoming Netflix series continuing his career resurgence, with the former teen and romance movie idol moving onto some much more challenging projects after his hiatus. Now, Hartnett will star in Below, an upcoming six-episode miniseries on Netflix, created by Umbrella Academy writer Jesse McKeown and also starring Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things,) and Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate.) Hartnett will play a fisherman with a disturbing event in his past, fighting to protect his way of life from a threat that we will all recognize but rarely see. Josh Hartnett's Below Is Bringing Back The Sea Monster Virtually every streaming platform has shark movies ranging from masterpieces like Jaws to terrible, and the late 2010s embraced the mermaid trend with TV shows like Siren and Tidelands. However, while sea monsters are instantly recognizable, they have rarely been afforded much attention since The Kraken's appearance in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Now, Below is a series with one at its center, though the creators appear to be taking notes from Jaws, which famously hid the shark for most of the movie, as the monster in question has not yet been glimpsed in the trailer or promotional images. Below appears to mix Lovecraftian horror with Jaws, with the trailer showing a mysterious iceberg appearing, people behaving in a strange manner, and something enormous causing havoc with the ship's equipment. With fisherman Calvin Penney (Hartnett) teaming up with a marine researcher (Davis,) the parallels to Jaws write themselves, but instead of a small town's chief like Brody, Calvin's son (Heaton) will be joining the team. It is likely that the creature in question will remain hidden for some time, leaving plenty to speculate over regarding its appearance, now that the Netflix description has confirmed it to be a threat. The idea is a bold move from McKeown, combining a monstrous villain that is rarely seen in TV shows with a formula that has been proven to work in many of the best recent horror TV series. Setting a terrifying event within an isolated but beautiful area has been a staple theme that is extremely effective, from Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass to Wayward Pines, but the introduction of a sea monster is a new challenge, with most onscreen threats from the water being sharks. Why Sea Monsters Are Overlooked In Horror Credit: Netflix Shows like Stranger Things have proven that a lot can be done with an enormous budget, but it is possible to make a visually disturbing horror TV series with practical effects, which can give better results than CGI. Unfortunately, when it comes to creating an impressive sea monster, this is not always the case. As the team behind Jaws found out, props do not always work well in water, and it is much harder to make a realistically frightening sea monster than one that moves on land, with the logistics complicating things further. Below will arrive on Netflix on October 8. Making a shark movie can simply require footage of real sharks, as Open Water used, but getting good enough footage of a creature like a giant squid near human actors is not possible, and filming underwater requires specialist teams, adding on costs that might not have been an issue for a show set on land. With such a colossal task ahead, it is hardly surprising that Below has been attracting attention. The series looks set to be a great cosmic horror TV show, providing a comeback for both its human actor and monstrous villain in the water. Release Date October 8, 2026 Network Netflix Showrunner Jesse McKeown Cast Mackenzie Davis Fonda Howander Rohan Campbell Jay Penney Below follows a hard-bitten fisherman in a remote Newfoundland town as he contends with a mysterious sea creature. Faced with the threat to his family and community, he strives to preserve his way of life amidst the chaos instigated by the enigmatic aquatic menace.