Humberly González on Jenna’s Layered Complexities in Netflix’s ‘The Waterfront’

Our first digital cover for the month of July features the incredibly talented Humberly González who stars as Jenna in the hit Netflix series, The Waterfront, which made its debut on June 19. The crime drama series quickly made its way to Netflix’s Top 10 shows globally.

Set against the backdrop of coastal North Carolina, the series comes from showrunner Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries, Dawson’s Creek) and follows a prominent fishing family who fall into dangerous waters to keep their crumbling business empire afloat. The Waterfront also stars Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Melissa Benoist, Jake Weary, Rafael L. Silva, Danielle Campbell, Brady Hepner, and Topher Grace.

In our exclusive conversation, Humberly discusses the overall reception of The Waterfront, her favorite elements about the series, working with Kevin Williamson, and how she prepared to play Jenna.

Exclusive photos for Popternative Magazine by Mike NG of Evoke Photo Studios
Makeup & Hair: Kelly Davidson

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What has it been like for you now that The Waterfront is out worldwide on Netflix?

Humberly: It’s always nerve-racking to have a new project come out, I think about how it’s going to be received, if it’s going to be loved, if it’s going to move forward, especially because we’ve spent months working on this, and it’s been almost a year since we filmed it. You never know how it’s going to be received, and I’m so grateful that it’s on a platform that I know and people love, and it’s accessible.

Humberly: Honestly, it’s been really lovely; my friends, my family, and a lot of new fans that have come from other projects that want to see my work has just been really wholesome, because I wasn’t sure how they were going to receive Jenna. She’s a tricky character to love. Anytime you’re showcasing an affair on screen, I think it can be really polarizing, but I think people can see it for the work. The twists, the turns, the steamy romance. I’m so proud of what we made and we’re still in the top 10 on Netflix, so that means something.

There are several elements to The Waterfront. Which part(s) do you enjoy the most?

Humberly: As a viewer, I definitely love the hidden secrets and the twists and turns. The different deaths were really shocking, and I love the cliffhangers. I think it’s such a Kevin Williamson signature to build suspense and not know where it’s going to go. As a performer, being a part of it, all of my scenes were pretty much with Jake Weary and Danielle Campbell, and I always love falling in love on screen. I think it’s so layered and complex and every relationship has its own unique touch.

Humberly: With this one, I was really careful in the way that Jenna leaned in or took a step back, and that was really fun for me as an actor. I do get hired to fall in love on screen a lot, but this was definitely a new challenge, because it’s a more mature role with a lot more at stake with her being married and him being married and having a kid. So, I made sure that I gave it as much attention and care as possible, and that was really fun for me.

What was it like working with Kevin Williamson?

Humberly: I did not know that he was going to be on set all the time. I was so happy about having his presence there and him really watching and giving feedback on a story that he created that is so personal to him. It really meant a lot because I know that he didn’t have to, and he has so much going on. I think at that point he was still developing Scream 7, and he was kind of back and forth, but he he tried to be on set as much as possible.

Humberly: I really saw him all the time, and getting to know him and getting direct feedback from the source was such a treat. He has a very calm, strong confidence, and he’s kind of quiet and very subtly guides the work in such a way that you never feel intimidated. That very first scene that you see Jenna running, he was there, that was my first day on set. I think he really had a great time being there with us and it’s such a dream to work with someone that I’ve admired for so many years and it was such a positive experience.

What was it like to bring Jenna to life on screen?

Humberly: Definitely tricky. I was very aware of the fact that showcasing an affair on screen can rub viewers the wrong way, because we aren’t trying to glamorize cheating or infidelity. In fact, I came from a perspective of a person who is at a crossroads, who is grieving, who is lacking a lot of things that would make her happy. She finds herself back home after a decade, runs into someone she thought she would have had a future with, and I think she’s in a moment of reconsidering her choices and how she moves forward. That was probably the trickiest thing to navigate because I didn’t want people to think she’s a bad person making decisions carelessly and without thought.

Humberly: Jenna feels the push and pull of what the consequences of this could be, but their connection is inevitable and I really wanted to lean into that, and I hope that people can see that it isn’t just so black and white, that relationships are so complicated, sometimes you don’t know what the right or wrong thing to do is, and you’re just trying to follow how you feel while considering everyone else, but who considers you in those moments? And so I try to really play with that and the complexity and the details, the layers of being in that situation. I felt really taken care of by my scene partners and the directors and the producers, because they really were guiding me through that journey.

What were some experiences from an acting perspective that you will take to future projects you learned from The Waterfront?

Humberly: I learned a lot on this set. I’m so grateful for the directors who really saw me and tried to challenge me in the choices I was making. I always work from instinct and I’m so malleable and open to direction. But I was pleasantly surprised. I remember filming the last episode and that was a very emotional day for me because I shot all of the scenes in one day, and I was in such emotional turmoil that I think it’s sometimes hard to to see it from the outside in. I really love the direction I got that was about how you deal with grief and how that shows up in my body and in my emotional self, because I’ve never experienced the death of a parent, and diving into that was kind of tricky.

Humberly: I think instinctually, I wanted to be more reckless and hysterical, but instead, the note I got was to be more contained and numb and in shock. And I really love the work that came out of that direction because it really challenged me into thinking about how my emotions show up as an actor and it felt really mature. This is a graduation for me in a lot of ways, being able to play my age and someone who is a career woman going through this grieving journey, going through this relationship that’s life altering. I love that I trusted the process and I trusted the team and that they let me play and there was no judgment in the choices made, but ultimately, we collaborated to have the best outcome possible.

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The Waterfront is streaming on Netflix.

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