‘The Waterfront’ star Holt McCallany on Season 2 rumors

Holt McCallany is the king of playing difficult fathers. 

Fresh off starring as the Von Erich family patriarch opposite Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White in the 2023 wrestling drama “The Iron Claw,” McCallany, 61, now plays a boozy philandering dad in “The Waterfront.” 

“It’s funny because [‘The Iron Claw’] was one of my performances that [‘The Waterfront’ creator] Kevin Williamson saw that…. led him to consider me for this part,” McCallany, 61, exclusively told The Post. 

The “Mindhunter” actor said that his characters in “The Iron Claw” and “The Waterfront,” are very different, but they share “this idea of tough love. This idea that blood is thicker than water, and family comes first.”

McCallany’s character Fritz Von Erich saw many of his sons tragically die young.

“I always felt like Fritz got blamed for a lot of things that weren’t really his fault,” he noted. “They’re both very imperfect flawed men, but at the end of the day, I found a way to admire both guys.” 

The “Fight Club” actor added that he enjoys finding a way to play characters who “make choices that we might not always agree with, but fundamentally, we still root for the guy anyway.” 

Now streaming on Netflix, “The Waterfront” is helmed by “Dawson’s Creek” creator Williamson, and follows the Buckley family, who preside over a fishing empire in the coastal North Carolina town of Havenport. They’ve landed in hot water after smuggling drugs on their boats. 

The family includes Harlan (McCallany), his wife Belle (Maria Bello), and their adut children, including former football star Cane (Jake Weary) and recovering addict daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist, “Supergirl”). Topher Grace plays a drug lord. 

Williamson told The Post that he based Harlan partly on his own late father. 

McCallany, who was born in New York City to an acting family – actress Julie Wilson and actor Michael McAloney, who produced the Tony winning 1970 play Borstal Boy – revealed he also incorporated parts of his own father into the role.

“I saw things in him that reminded me of myself. And I saw a lot of things in him that reminded me of my father, who was a very heavy drinker and made a lot of bad decisions, and was still a successful guy and won a Tony Award on Broadway and accomplished a lot of extraordinary things. But [he] was a very flawed individual in many ways,” said McCallany.

“So it’s interesting, Kevin wrote [Harlan Buckley] in a way that was inspired by his dad. And then I kind of played the guy in a way that was inspired by my dad.” 

Netflix hasn’t officially announced a Season 2 renewal, but he teased that there are “rumors” that the show could return “sooner rather than later” — and “as early as the spring.” 

In the immediate future, he’ll be in the 2026 French movie “Guru,” playing a character closely based on the motivational speaker, Tony Robbins. But count him out for appearing in “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”

“Everybody thinks that I’m in the sequel to ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ because I was listed in Variety as being part of the cast, but I’m not actually in that one.”

McCallany does, however, have big plans in New York City. 

He quipped: “I’m going to throw out the first pitch at the Mets game on August 25th. So if you got any Mets fans that are Post readers, and I bet you do, let them know that the day to come to the ballpark is Monday, August 25th.”