By Ryan O’Rourke & Maggie Lovitt | Collider.com |February 27, 2026
Matthew Rhys will forever be known on the small screen for his Emmy-winning role as undercover KGB agent Philip Jennings in FX’s spy thriller The Americans. However, the versatile star, who has since appeared in everything from The Owl House to Perry Mason and, more recently, Netflix’s The Beast in Me, is now about to step into a much less secretive position on television as the mayor of a small New England town in Widow’s Bay. There’s just one tiny catch to his job — the titular ominously-named locale may, or may not, be cursed, depending on who you talk to. Viewers will get to visit the town for themselves on April 29 on Apple TV, but before that, we’re thrilled to share an exclusive, ominous image from the horror comedy and a conversation with creator Katie Dippold for Collider’s Exclusive Preview event for upcoming spring films and TV shows.
In Widow’s Bay, Rhys plays Mayor Tom Loftis, a skeptical single father in charge of a quaint little island town packed with superstitious people. Not unlike the mayor of Amity Island in Jaws, he’s focused on tourism above all else, driven to revive his struggling community into the next Nantucket and provide a better future for his teenage son. However, that’s not easy to do when there’s no Wi-Fi, cellular service is spotty at best, and, despite his best efforts, nobody in town respects him. Everyone believes, and they’re correct in doing so, that Loftis is “soft and cowardly,” but he’s unwilling to bend for the residents who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that their home is cursed. When he starts succeeding in getting tourists to visit the island, however, the locals are, unfortunately, proven right, as the fabled curse rears its ugly head, bringing horror and hilarity alike.
Apple TV hasn’t divulged what the strange events befalling Widow’s Bay could be, though a previously released teaser gives at least some idea of what could be so disruptive. It shows Rhys’ Loftis reacting to the sound of an outdoor warning siren, which has everyone outside staring at something off in the distance in the water. Our exclusive image further compounds that feeling that something sinister hangs over the dreary little town, as the mayor dines alone in a rustic restaurant, looking over his shoulder with confusion, concern, and a bit of fear. Joining him on the island are Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey.
Katie Dippold Brings Horrors, Laughs, and Passion to ‘Widow’s Bay’
Katie Dippold brings a mix of experience in the realms of both horror and comedy to Apple TV. She’s perhaps best known for her work penning 31 episodes of the beloved mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, though she also wrote the screenplay to Justin Simien‘s star-studded Haunted Mansion and co-wrote the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Behind the camera, meanwhile, is Emmy-winning director Hiro Murai, whose work can be seen in The Bear and Atlanta. He helms five episodes alongside a murderer’s row of directors, including the X trilogy mastermind Ti West, Severance director Sam Donovan, and Friendship helmer Andrew DeYoung.
Matthew Rhys will forever be known on the small screen for his Emmy-winning role as undercover KGB agent Philip Jennings in FX’s spy thriller The Americans. However, the versatile star, who has since appeared in everything from The Owl House to Perry Mason and, more recently, Netflix’s The Beast in Me, is now about to step into a much less secretive position on television as the mayor of a small New England town in Widow’s Bay. There’s just one tiny catch to his job — the titular ominously-named locale may, or may not, be cursed, depending on who you talk to. Viewers will get to visit the town for themselves on April 29 on Apple TV, but before that, we’re thrilled to share an exclusive, ominous image from the horror comedy and a conversation with creator Katie Dippold for Collider’s Exclusive Preview event for upcoming spring films and TV shows.
In Widow’s Bay, Rhys plays Mayor Tom Loftis, a skeptical single father in charge of a quaint little island town packed with superstitious people. Not unlike the mayor of Amity Island in Jaws, he’s focused on tourism above all else, driven to revive his struggling community into the next Nantucket and provide a better future for his teenage son. However, that’s not easy to do when there’s no Wi-Fi, cellular service is spotty at best, and, despite his best efforts, nobody in town respects him. Everyone believes, and they’re correct in doing so, that Loftis is “soft and cowardly,” but he’s unwilling to bend for the residents who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that their home is cursed. When he starts succeeding in getting tourists to visit the island, however, the locals are, unfortunately, proven right, as the fabled curse rears its ugly head, bringing horror and hilarity alike.
Apple TV hasn’t divulged what the strange events befalling Widow’s Bay could be, though a previously released teaser gives at least some idea of what could be so disruptive. It shows Rhys’ Loftis reacting to the sound of an outdoor warning siren, which has everyone outside staring at something off in the distance in the water. Our exclusive image further compounds that feeling that something sinister hangs over the dreary little town, as the mayor dines alone in a rustic restaurant, looking over his shoulder with confusion, concern, and a bit of fear. Joining him on the island are Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey.
Katie Dippold Brings Horrors, Laughs, and Passion to ‘Widow’s Bay’
Katie Dippold brings a mix of experience in the realms of both horror and comedy to Apple TV. She’s perhaps best known for her work penning 31 episodes of the beloved mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, though she also wrote the screenplay to Justin Simien‘s star-studded Haunted Mansion and co-wrote the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Behind the camera, meanwhile, is Emmy-winning director Hiro Murai, whose work can be seen in The Bear and Atlanta. He helms five episodes alongside a murderer’s row of directors, including the X trilogy mastermind Ti West, Severance director Sam Donovan, and Friendship helmer Andrew DeYoung.
For the writer, Widow’s Bay also stems from a little personal preference when it came to the cursed, curious setting. Dippold told Collider’s Maggie Lovitt that her fascination with New England and its history played a big part in preparing for production, explaining:
“I grew up in New Jersey. I didn’t grow up in New England, but I grew up in New Jersey. I always loved New England. I just always wanted to go there. My grandma was actually from Boston. There’s something about it that, it’s going to sound very basic, but you just feel all these old stories. All the different houses there, you’re like, ‘What has happened in this house?’ Even when it came time for production, I really wanted to do it in New England itself, and that lent itself to so many different locations that you couldn’t make up. Just the history there is so rich.”
Adding to that lived-in feeling, she recalled a particular instance at a Massachusetts diner while crafting the bones of her new series that further informed how she wanted to characterize Widow’s Bay‘s central locale. The goal was to make a place that felt oddly “cozy” and worth visiting despite the potential danger, arguably exactly what Mayor Loftis is trying to accomplish.
“I remember I went to this diner in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Beautiful place. It’s so beautiful. And there is a diner that I went to. This is about five years ago, and I was working on this, and it was very cozy, very lived in. It wasn’t perfect. It was all coffee mugs with coffee stains and old locals sitting around gabbing, and I just wanted to stay there. I never wanted to leave. So that was a real inspiration for building out a world that felt cozy, lived in, and had a rich history, but a little dangerous. It’s ridiculous, but I would want to go to that place even if it were dangerous. But that’s me.”
‘Widow’s Bay’s Origins Trace Back to ‘Parks and Recreation’
Though the Widow’s Bay that viewers will see leans more into the horror, that wasn’t the case with Dippold’s original idea. She revealed that the show’s roots date back roughly 18 years, as it “originally was my spec script to get hired on Parks and Recreation,” and thus was better crafted to fit the humor of Pawnee, Indiana, rather than make for a fleshed-out horror-comedy mystery. “It was jokier, and I think it was a good sample of my sense of humor, but to be honest, as it was then, it wasn’t really a show I would watch because, as a horror fan, I wanted to know that that’s being taken seriously,” she added. “I want to believe this place exists. I want to believe these characters are these characters. So, I spent years just revisiting it and trying to build out the world and make it feel very real and grounded, and that meant losing a lot of the jokes. But I just wanted to believe this is a place that I could go to.”
The process of writing the series for real then meant incorporating humor in a different way that still relied on its characters. Compared to a more straightforward comedy like Parks and Recreation, Dippold wanted everything to still be taken seriously and aimed to strike a balance where the horror elements serve the comedy and vice versa.
“So, then, when the writers’ room started, we were pretty vigilant on not undercutting anything. I really wanted to avoid that feeling that can happen in comedy-horror sometimes, where something happens and then someone makes a joke, like, ‘Well, that happened.’ Everything in this is taken very seriously, and wanting the humor to come from character. And I found that juxtaposition didn’t have to undercut each other. Instead, it could feed off of each other. And as the season goes on and the tensions rise, that juxtaposition gets even stronger, and it becomes even more fun, even though it gets more intense. So, it was a tonal tightrope from beginning to end — in the writers’ room, the scripts, when we were casting, in the edit — constantly. But it’s felt very satisfying when those two played off of each other.”
‘Widow’s Bay’ Revels in Both the Fun and Everyday Horrors
As for the horror aspect, Widow’s Bay will offer a bit of variety for viewers to sink into. Dippold admitted there will be a few jump scares, “because I love a well-crafted jump scare. Those are some of my favorite moments.” However, she also incorporated a fair bit of psychological elements and assured that she explored plenty of different realms when it came to scaring people. Some of the terror, she believes, even comes from the series’ unpredictability. “I don’t think that if you watched the first episode, you could anticipate where the season goes, which was exciting to me, and terrifying at the same time, but also very exciting.”
One word she uses to describe some of the horror is “dread.” Much of the fear comes from the anticipation of what’s about to happen and what’s lurking around every corner of the cursed town. Rest assured, this won’t be a series that will test how squeamish viewers are, but one that will leave them stewing in their terror with a few bigger, fun surprises that she likens more to something like the classic An American Werewolf in London. Circling back to the mix of horror and humor, she also teases a few everyday terrors that play on social anxiety, like saying goodbye too quickly or telling a waiter “thanks, you too” when they say to enjoy the meal.
“There are some moments when there’s a lot of dread. But I know this is a weird thing to say, and my definition of fun is different than other people’s definition, but I would call it fun dread. Like, the anticipation. It’s not a lot of gross-out horror because that’s never really been my cup of tea. I respect it when done well, and I like watching it when done well, like I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But it’s more like I would say I always loved American Werewolf in London, where it’s really grounded by everything that’s happening, but there are still very fun, surprising moments. Also, when I think about the tone, a lot of it is about horrors, both big and small. Like, for example, I’m just making this up, this example, but there could be something horrifying lurking outside the building, but then there’s also the small horrors of life, of you’re in an elevator, and you say goodbye to someone, but then it takes 30 seconds for the elevator door to open, and that awful silence for 30 seconds. So, this show explores both of those kinds of horrors.”
Matthew Rhys will forever be known on the small screen for his Emmy-winning role as undercover KGB agent Philip Jennings in FX’s spy thriller The Americans. However, the versatile star, who has since appeared in everything from The Owl House to Perry Mason and, more recently, Netflix’s The Beast in Me, is now about to step into a much less secretive position on television as the mayor of a small New England town in Widow’s Bay. There’s just one tiny catch to his job — the titular ominously-named locale may, or may not, be cursed, depending on who you talk to. Viewers will get to visit the town for themselves on April 29 on Apple TV, but before that, we’re thrilled to share an exclusive, ominous image from the horror comedy and a conversation with creator Katie Dippold for Collider’s Exclusive Preview event for upcoming spring films and TV shows.
In Widow’s Bay, Rhys plays Mayor Tom Loftis, a skeptical single father in charge of a quaint little island town packed with superstitious people. Not unlike the mayor of Amity Island in Jaws, he’s focused on tourism above all else, driven to revive his struggling community into the next Nantucket and provide a better future for his teenage son. However, that’s not easy to do when there’s no Wi-Fi, cellular service is spotty at best, and, despite his best efforts, nobody in town respects him. Everyone believes, and they’re correct in doing so, that Loftis is “soft and cowardly,” but he’s unwilling to bend for the residents who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that their home is cursed. When he starts succeeding in getting tourists to visit the island, however, the locals are, unfortunately, proven right, as the fabled curse rears its ugly head, bringing horror and hilarity alike.
Apple TV hasn’t divulged what the strange events befalling Widow’s Bay could be, though a previously released teaser gives at least some idea of what could be so disruptive. It shows Rhys’ Loftis reacting to the sound of an outdoor warning siren, which has everyone outside staring at something off in the distance in the water. Our exclusive image further compounds that feeling that something sinister hangs over the dreary little town, as the mayor dines alone in a rustic restaurant, looking over his shoulder with confusion, concern, and a bit of fear. Joining him on the island are Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey.
Katie Dippold Brings Horrors, Laughs, and Passion to ‘Widow’s Bay’
Katie Dippold brings a mix of experience in the realms of both horror and comedy to Apple TV. She’s perhaps best known for her work penning 31 episodes of the beloved mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, though she also wrote the screenplay to Justin Simien‘s star-studded Haunted Mansion and co-wrote the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Behind the camera, meanwhile, is Emmy-winning director Hiro Murai, whose work can be seen in The Bear and Atlanta. He helms five episodes alongside a murderer’s row of directors, including the X trilogy mastermind Ti West, Severance director Sam Donovan, and Friendship helmer Andrew DeYoung.
For the writer, Widow’s Bay also stems from a little personal preference when it came to the cursed, curious setting. Dippold told Collider’s Maggie Lovitt that her fascination with New England and its history played a big part in preparing for production, explaining:
“I grew up in New Jersey. I didn’t grow up in New England, but I grew up in New Jersey. I always loved New England. I just always wanted to go there. My grandma was actually from Boston. There’s something about it that, it’s going to sound very basic, but you just feel all these old stories. All the different houses there, you’re like, ‘What has happened in this house?’ Even when it came time for production, I really wanted to do it in New England itself, and that lent itself to so many different locations that you couldn’t make up. Just the history there is so rich.”
Adding to that lived-in feeling, she recalled a particular instance at a Massachusetts diner while crafting the bones of her new series that further informed how she wanted to characterize Widow’s Bay‘s central locale. The goal was to make a place that felt oddly “cozy” and worth visiting despite the potential danger, arguably exactly what Mayor Loftis is trying to accomplish.
“I remember I went to this diner in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Beautiful place. It’s so beautiful. And there is a diner that I went to. This is about five years ago, and I was working on this, and it was very cozy, very lived in. It wasn’t perfect. It was all coffee mugs with coffee stains and old locals sitting around gabbing, and I just wanted to stay there. I never wanted to leave. So that was a real inspiration for building out a world that felt cozy, lived in, and had a rich history, but a little dangerous. It’s ridiculous, but I would want to go to that place even if it were dangerous. But that’s me.”
‘Widow’s Bay’s Origins Trace Back to ‘Parks and Recreation’
Though the Widow’s Bay that viewers will see leans more into the horror, that wasn’t the case with Dippold’s original idea. She revealed that the show’s roots date back roughly 18 years, as it “originally was my spec script to get hired on Parks and Recreation,” and thus was better crafted to fit the humor of Pawnee, Indiana, rather than make for a fleshed-out horror-comedy mystery. “It was jokier, and I think it was a good sample of my sense of humor, but to be honest, as it was then, it wasn’t really a show I would watch because, as a horror fan, I wanted to know that that’s being taken seriously,” she added. “I want to believe this place exists. I want to believe these characters are these characters. So, I spent years just revisiting it and trying to build out the world and make it feel very real and grounded, and that meant losing a lot of the jokes. But I just wanted to believe this is a place that I could go to.”
The process of writing the series for real then meant incorporating humor in a different way that still relied on its characters. Compared to a more straightforward comedy like Parks and Recreation, Dippold wanted everything to still be taken seriously and aimed to strike a balance where the horror elements serve the comedy and vice versa.
“So, then, when the writers’ room started, we were pretty vigilant on not undercutting anything. I really wanted to avoid that feeling that can happen in comedy-horror sometimes, where something happens and then someone makes a joke, like, ‘Well, that happened.’ Everything in this is taken very seriously, and wanting the humor to come from character. And I found that juxtaposition didn’t have to undercut each other. Instead, it could feed off of each other. And as the season goes on and the tensions rise, that juxtaposition gets even stronger, and it becomes even more fun, even though it gets more intense. So, it was a tonal tightrope from beginning to end — in the writers’ room, the scripts, when we were casting, in the edit — constantly. But it’s felt very satisfying when those two played off of each other.”
‘Widow’s Bay’ Revels in Both the Fun and Everyday Horrors
As for the horror aspect, Widow’s Bay will offer a bit of variety for viewers to sink into. Dippold admitted there will be a few jump scares, “because I love a well-crafted jump scare. Those are some of my favorite moments.” However, she also incorporated a fair bit of psychological elements and assured that she explored plenty of different realms when it came to scaring people. Some of the terror, she believes, even comes from the series’ unpredictability. “I don’t think that if you watched the first episode, you could anticipate where the season goes, which was exciting to me, and terrifying at the same time, but also very exciting.”
One word she uses to describe some of the horror is “dread.” Much of the fear comes from the anticipation of what’s about to happen and what’s lurking around every corner of the cursed town. Rest assured, this won’t be a series that will test how squeamish viewers are, but one that will leave them stewing in their terror with a few bigger, fun surprises that she likens more to something like the classic An American Werewolf in London. Circling back to the mix of horror and humor, she also teases a few everyday terrors that play on social anxiety, like saying goodbye too quickly or telling a waiter “thanks, you too” when they say to enjoy the meal.
“There are some moments when there’s a lot of dread. But I know this is a weird thing to say, and my definition of fun is different than other people’s definition, but I would call it fun dread. Like, the anticipation. It’s not a lot of gross-out horror because that’s never really been my cup of tea. I respect it when done well, and I like watching it when done well, like I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But it’s more like I would say I always loved American Werewolf in London, where it’s really grounded by everything that’s happening, but there are still very fun, surprising moments. Also, when I think about the tone, a lot of it is about horrors, both big and small. Like, for example, I’m just making this up, this example, but there could be something horrifying lurking outside the building, but then there’s also the small horrors of life, of you’re in an elevator, and you say goodbye to someone, but then it takes 30 seconds for the elevator door to open, and that awful silence for 30 seconds. So, this show explores both of those kinds of horrors.“
In a sense, Dippold’s comedy experience also informs the horror. The two genres are often just a step away from each other in one direction or another, where the jokes of something like Parks and Recreation can quickly become a nightmare. Again, that’s where tension is key for the writer. The goal, she reiterated, is just not to accidentally undercut the scares or the characters. Her other goal, though, was to keep the tone light enough that the show could still explore more emotional plot points, like Loftis’ relationship with his son, without veering too far into darkness.
“I always love the feeling of going to the theater and watching a horror movie when there’s a really fun, tense scare done well, and it’s not funny at all, but it’s the tension you feel when it ends — you almost laugh. So, I do feel like they can live under the same umbrella. You just have to be very careful to never undercut it. And also, this show kind of goes to some emotional places, but it’s also trying not to get too bleak. There are certain kinds of horror movies that I’ve respected but never want to watch again. It’s not a lot of that feeling, at the same time.”
Matthew Rhys Steadied the Ship With Dramatic Chops and Surprising Comedy
However, the real key to making Widow’s Bay work as well as it does, in Dippold’s eyes, was Rhys. The Americans showed him at his level best in a dramatic spy thriller setting, and, before that, he made an impression with ABC audiences in the cozy five-season family drama Brothers & Sisters as part of the Walker family. Comedy isn’t the first thing most fans will think of with Rhys, though the writer attests that he’s much funnier than viewers typically see in his on-screen performances. He represented the perfect blend to play Mayor Loftis, bringing unexpected laughter and real tension and pain to a man who’s trying to desperately hold a town together through a wild series of events.
“He’s a dream. I love The Americans. When I met with him, I wasn’t sure what to expect because he’s obviously a brilliant actor, and then he was just so naturally funny. I just felt so great about him. He’s just so funny, and I don’t know how many people know how funny he is. He does something in the show that I’ve never seen before. I always wanted this character, Mayor Loftis, he’s trying to hold it all together, but you can see the tension in his eyes, and there’s no one who could do that better than Matthew Rhys. Everything is in his eyes. Honestly, everyone on set was giddy about what he was doing. It just felt like something I hadn’t seen before. He really takes you on such a rollercoaster this season. So, having someone who’s that insanely good of an actor, but also has pitch-perfect comedic timing, I can’t imagine doing the show with anyone else. So, I know everyone says this about the actors on their show, but you’ll see it, and you’ll be like, ‘Okay, yes, she meant it.’ He’s insane.”
Dippold is excited for viewers to see all the other residents of Widow’s Bay and how they interact with Loftis, too. She specifically highlighted Root, known for his turns in the darkly comedic Barry, the classic Office Space, and, of course, as Hank Hill’s depressed next-door neighbor, Bill Dauterive, in King of the Hill, as a standout for how he gels with the tone of the series and matches up with Rhys. “Stephen Root is also just amazing. No one knows that tonal line better than him. He’s so funny. Watching those two do scenes together is incredible. It’s very fun.”
Apple TV sets sail for Widow’s Bay with a three-episode premiere on April 29. Check out our exclusive image above and stay tuned here at Collider for more new looks from our spring preview series throughout the coming weeks.
