NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- Animal Kingdom and Walking Dead: Dead City actor Jake Weary says he wanted to star in The Waterfront because the new Netflix drama gives him the chance to play a type of character he doesn't usually get offered.

"It was a character that I've never really explored before, someone who is really outwardly charismatic and charming and trying to use his charms to get certain things and manipulate people," Weary, 35, told UPI in a phone interview Thursday.

"I'd always played more introverted characters and characters that are harboring secrets and there's just a lot of darkness," he said. "There are elements there with Cane, but I think, for the most part, he's someone that actually smiles. I usually play characters that just scowl all the time, so I thought it was kind of a nice game changer for me."

Now streaming on Netflix, the show was written-produced by Dawson's Creek and Scream creator Kevin Williamson. It follows the Buckleys, a wealthy North Carolina family as they try to save their fishing empire by smuggling drugs.

Weary plays Cane Buckley, while Holt McCallany plays his father Harlan, Maria Bello plays his mother Belle and Melissa Benoist plays his older sister Bree.