‘Widow’s Bay’ Boss Reveals ‘Parks & Rec’ Connection in Matthew Rhys Horror-Comedy

Katie Dippold‘s pilot script for Widow’s Bay got her a job in the Parks and Recreation Season 2 writer’s room, where she stayed for years. Years later, her passion project is finally alive on Apple TV. The horror-comedy (emphasis on the horror) premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, April 29, on the streamer. And while it couldn’t be more narratively different than Parks and Rec, you can still feel the spirit of the beloved comedy in the show. Dippold says the NBC sitcom is in her DNA, and there’s one particular storytelling tool that she took from it and applied to Widow’s Bay.

In Widow’s Bay, something lurks beneath the surface. Mayor Tom Loftis (Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) is desperate to revive his struggling community. There’s no Wi-Fi, spotty cellular reception, and he must contend with superstitious locals who believe their island is cursed. He wants these people to respect him. They don’t. They think he is soft and cowardly. And he is. But Loftis is determined to build a better future for his teenage son and turn the island into a tourist destination. Miraculously, he succeeds: tourists are finally coming. Unfortunately, the locals were right. After decades of calm, the old stories that seemed too ludicrous to be true start happening again.

Blending genuine horror with character-driven comedy, Widow’s Bay features an ensemble cast led by Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey. The supporting cast includes K Callan and Emmy Award winner Jeff Hiller. Much of the ensemble plays Rhys’s colleagues at the mayor’s office, and their eccentric personalities bring in that Pawnee local government feel.

Dippold warns that Widow’s Bay and Parks and Rec are “two very different shows, and so if someone were to watch the show expecting the experience of Parks and Rec, that would be a mistake, but I think Parks and Rec is just in my DNA and I learned so much from that show.” She couldn’t help but bring a bit of the sitcom’s essence into her new thriller.

“You could watch [Widow’s Bay] and feel like, ‘OK, this is different, but I feel like this writer came from Parks and Rec,'” Dippold says, “Because there’s little things from Parks and Rec that I always love, like a throwaway joke could come back later and be a whole episode.”

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“I always loved that about the show,” she continues. “That was always one of the funnest things in the room. And in this show, there could be a throwaway line to a horrific event that seems like a throwaway joke of something that sounds ludicrous that happened a long time ago, but in this show, that might happen, and it might be terrifying. So, that spirit of following the fun thing is something I think I took from that.”

You may think you know where Widow’s Bay is going after the first two episodes, but there’s truly no predicting where the plot goes once Loftis accepts that the island’s superstitions hold weight. The result is a delightful series that blends comedy into true jump scares and spine-tingling suspense, with new horror lore that feels equal parts familiar and brand new.

Dippold wanted to capture the feeling of being in a haunted house with your family and friends and being so scared that you crack up laughing, and she succeeded.

Widow’s Bay, Series Premiere, Wednesday, April 29, Apple TV