Emmy-nominated dark comedy stars Matthew Rhys
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The stars of Apple TV+’s newest hit series, Widow’s Bay, have revealed their hopes for the show’s highly anticipated second season.
The word-of-mouth comedy thriller, which has been nominated for 19 Emmys this year, stars Matthew Rhys as the mayor of a fictional New England seaport town, who seeks to boost tourism despite knowing the island may be cursed.
Throughout the show’s debut season, Rhys’s Tom Loftis experiences supernatural occurrences, suggesting that the town is indeed haunted. Still, he tries to keep the eeriness at bay in an attempt to market the cash-strapped town as the next Martha’s Vineyard. By the end of the season, however, Loftis acknowledges that there’s something truly wrong with the island.
While the show was renewed in June, the creator-showrunner Katie Dippold remains tight-lipped about her plans for the next installment.
But the show’s stars, including Rhys, Dale Dickey and Katie O’Flynn, have freely divulged their preferred theories for Widow’s Bay’s future.
“It’s the ultimate setup, I think, for a Season 2,” Rhys told Deadline. “Massive cliffhanger. I’m just talking personally now. A father who now knows the folklore is true. Therefore, if he suddenly leaves the island, his son will die. He realizes he has the Scooby-Doo mission. It’s like, OK, how do we figure this out? What breaks the curse?”
Dale Dickey, who plays Loftis’s cigarette-smoking secretary Rosemary, recalled a recent conversation with co-star Jeff Hiller, who portrays Dale, the town hall clerk.
“I was talking to Jeff Hiller,” she said. “I would love to do a boat scene where Rosemary and Dale are out searching for the sea hag to get some answers. I thought that would be fun. And then we tip over and there’s only one life jacket. Who’s going to live?”
British actor Kate O’Flynn, who stars as Loftis’s trusty executive assistant Patricia, added: “Next season, I don’t know, but I would love to play a British ancestor of Patricia or something… I like the idea of wigging up and doing a bit of period drama. Why not?”
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Widow’s Bay trails behind HBO Max’s smash-hit comedy Hacks in the comedy categories for the 2026 Emmys.
The former collected 19 nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series and acting nods for Rhys, O’Flynn, Dickey, Stephen Root, Betty Gilpin and Hamish Linklater. The latter landed 24 nominations.
Rhys achieved a rare feat, earning two Lead Actor Emmy nominations for Widow’s Bay and for Netflix’s limited drama series The Beast in Me.
