{"id":450316,"date":"2026-04-23T18:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/450316\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:45:17","slug":"the-creator-and-director-of-widows-bay-on-crafting-their-quirky-spooky-new-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/450316\/","title":{"rendered":"The Creator and Director of \u2018Widow\u2019s Bay\u2019 on Crafting Their Quirky, Spooky New Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cursed islands<\/a> are a well-worn horror trope, but you\u2019ve never been to one quite like the setting of Apple TV<\/a>\u2019s new series Widow\u2019s Bay<\/a>. The locals know there\u2019s a darkness hanging over them\u2014it\u2019s just another part of life in this quaint village located 40 miles off the coast of New England.<\/p>\n

Here, there\u2019s no wi-fi, but there are plenty of strange creatures, odd weather patterns, and legends that hew far closer to actual history than to folklore. That becomes a problem when the town\u2019s ambitious mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), launches his plan to turn Widow\u2019s Bay into a bougie tourist destination at the exact moment the island starts \u201cwaking up\u201d in all sorts of supernatural ways.<\/p>\n

Across 10 episodes, Widow\u2019s Bay mixes offbeat humor with freaky scares. Ahead of the show\u2019s premiere next week, io9 talked to creator, showrunner, and executive producer Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, The Heat, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call) and director and executive producer Hiro Murai (Atlanta, Station Eleven) to learn more.<\/p>\n

This interview has been slightly edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

Cheryl Eddy, io9: Apple TV is such a destination for sci-fi, but we haven\u2019t seen it do too many horror shows. What does it mean to you to be one of the first horror shows on the streamer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katie Dippold:<\/strong> It\u2019s exciting. I mean, I have to give Apple credit. In the pitch, we didn\u2019t necessarily say \u201chorror show,\u201d but we said we wanted to do both horror and comedy and that we didn\u2019t really have a direct [comparison] for it. And so to Apple\u2019s credit\u2014that\u2019s nerve-wracking for a studio to hear.<\/p>\n

Hiro Murai:<\/strong> Yeah, they really didn\u2019t flinch.<\/p>\n

\"WidowsKevin Carroll in Widow\u2019s Bay. \u00a9 Apple TV <\/p>\n

io9: Widow\u2019s Bay has some obvious influences\u2014including John Carpenter\u2019s The Fog and Halloween,\u00a0Jaws,\u00a0and H.P. Lovecraft. What was the genesis of the Widow\u2019s Bay story, and how did you decide to incorporate those inspirations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> I would say the inspiration was trying to capture a certain feeling that I\u2019ve always wanted. As a kid in New Jersey in the \u201880s, there was a haunted house that I would always go to with my family. It\u2019s terrifying. I was way too young for it. But I loved that I would go, and it was terrifying, and I would scream, but we would also laugh, and it\u2019s very communal. And so I\u2019ve wanted to capture that feeling. And I\u2019ve always wanted a place like this to actually exist. Like, I want to go to this island. I want to go to the weird inn, and I want to go to the Salty Whale. Just to feel like there\u2019s these nooks and crannies you can discover is very exciting to me.<\/p>\n

[As for the inspirations], you\u2019re absolutely correct. We especially talked about Jaws a lot, and I think it was important for us to feel like [we weren\u2019t doing] a parody of it or doing it exactly\u2014but just [feeling] the spirit of it.<\/p>\n

Murai:<\/strong> I also think this island [is] remote and it\u2019s kind of disconnected from time, and they don\u2019t have modern technology, and there\u2019s something kind of inherently nostalgic about it. I think when we\u2019re touching on things like Jaws and The Fog, to us it was conjuring the nostalgia of being kids and watching those movies at the same time. That was something that we were trying to harness, the feeling of watching those movies more than the movies themselves maybe.<\/p>\n

io9: Widow\u2019s Bay has an offbeat tone that shifts between deadpan humor and dark horror. How did you go about getting that balance just right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> We tried to make sure the horror never felt too bleak. The show goes to dark places, but I think the balancing act of horror and comedy\u2014it kind of wants to feel in the same spirit of joy, even if it\u2019s just truly scary. Another important thing is that the scary thing isn\u2019t usually funny. That was important to us, to really take it seriously and not let the comedy undercut the horror. So to be honest, we were constantly molding and finding things and discovering things that worked and didn\u2019t work. And it was a very organic, creative journey.<\/p>\n

Murai:<\/strong> Yeah. Sometimes we would film things, we\u2019d do a take, and then we\u2019d just look at each other like, \u201cThat didn\u2019t feel good. And we don\u2019t know why.\u201d And so we would change the way it was staged or the performances. It was very much a discovery process.<\/p>\n

\"WidowsMatthew Rhys in Widow\u2019s Bay. \u00a9 Apple TV <\/p>\n

io9: The character of Tom has to be a guy you root for even as he\u2019s doing things he knows he shouldn\u2019t. How did you know Matthew Rhys was the right choice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> Not until we met him, because we had been thinking about it for a long time. Casting was one of the hardest parts, because it\u2019s like\u2014there\u2019s so many people that are so funny that would be a dream to work with, but then it just doesn\u2019t feel right for the tone of the show, and you wouldn\u2019t necessarily buy them living on this island. And then if that\u2019s the case, then you wouldn\u2019t really feel the tension. Matthew [is] an amazing dramatic actor; we were both big fans. We met with him on Zoom, and he was just so funny and just so lovely, and we just had a great meeting. When Hiro and I got on the phone afterwards, [we were] like, \u201cThis feels good!\u201d<\/p>\n

io9: The lore of the island is so detailed. Did you come up with a huge list beforehand of stuff you wanted to include, or did it come up organically while the episodes were being written?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> It was a lot of trial and error. There were so many different things that I just wanted to see and just wanted to do, and sometimes we know we would brainstorm that in [the writers\u2019] room, and it just didn\u2019t feel right for the show, and then some stuff did feel right for the show. Also, a key component was making sure we\u2019re using the horror tropes to also explore the characters. A lot of the horrors of being a human being are really the most important, and just using that sort of as a way to explore it.<\/p>\n

io9: I loved the weirdly sinister board games that Tom finds at the inn. It\u2019s definitely a \u201cpause and look twice\u201d moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> One of the things I love about the way that [Hiro] shot it is, like, just [moving the camera past a game called] She Shouldn\u2019t Have Said That. And it\u2019s never explained, which is my favorite kind of humor, where you\u2019re not saying, \u201cHere is the joke.\u201d I think Hiro is especially awesome at [that]: \u201cOh, did you catch it? Okay. Well, maybe not, but keep moving.\u201d And so that did tickle me.<\/p>\n

\"WidowsKate O\u2019Flynn in Widow\u2019s Bay. \u00a9 Apple TV <\/p>\n

io9: Without spoiling any plot points, when we get to the end of the season, it feels like there could be additional chapters to this story. Did you envision it as a contained, single season, or is there a possibility to do more?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dippold:<\/strong> I like a season ending where you feel satisfied but also could continue. So there\u2019s definitely much more that could be done.<\/p>\n

Widow\u2019s Bay stars Matthew Rhys (who\u2019s also an executive producer) along with Kate O\u2019Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, K Callan, and Jeff Hiller. It premieres April 29 on Apple TV.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cursed islands are a well-worn horror trope, but you\u2019ve never been to one quite like the setting of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[593,18,117,198493,19,17,198494,128,192813],"class_list":{"0":"post-450316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-apple-tv","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hiro-murai","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-katie-dippold","15":"tag-tv","16":"tag-widows-bay"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116455507982910929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}