Month: June 2026

If you’re late to the game, Widow’s Bay has been picked up for a second season by Apple TV! Yay!

Fright fans are flocking to Widow’s Bay and with good reason. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of small-town terrors that somehow walks the finest line between horror and comedy imaginable.

Even the choice of font used in the title (Horror Paperback?) smells authentic to my nose.

Matthew Rhys (The Americans) is Tom Loftis, the mayor of the titular island town that might be the most heavily cursed community in America.

His job, trying to get the island’s populace to tone down the spook talk while entertaining East Coast tourists proves an impossible task, but a highly amusing one.

Loftis does his darndest to disavow and debunk the many, many legends that plague Widow’s Bay, but soon realizes he’s up against witches, hags, ghosts, undead killers, haunted fog, and an entire town of charming eccentrics that seem to be better informed on the subject than he is.

Tom’s trusty assistant Patricia (Kate O’Flynn, who steals scenes, left and right), survived a murderous rampage by local maniac the Boogeyman, while she was a teenager, but finds him back in her life as an adult.

And she feels guilt about the girls who died, wondering why she was spared. (I for one appreciate the learning of lessons and the potential for personal growth amidst the various nightmare scenarios!)

Patricia and Tom are joined by Wyck (Stephen Root), a, crusty, but well-read fisherman with a head full of arcane knowledge, including details of the original curse that befell Widow’s Bay hundreds of years ago.

There are satchels of intriguing subplots, but the one that affects everyone is the matter of whether or not you were born on the island—and what happens to people who try to leave.

Widow’s Bay is a tasty mystery with enough ghoulish garnish to tickle the fancy of folks in search of their next horror hang. Series creator Katie Dippold is a former writer from Parks and Recreation, and clearly has a knack for constructing oddball and outré communities that somehow steal our hearts.

Looking forward to Season 2, but a rewatch of the first is recommended. Lots of stuff here.