Apple TV’s hit horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay” picked up 19 nominations this week for the upcoming Emmy Awards, the most of any new show to earn nods this year.
It’s a well deserved haul for the freshman series, which filmed across Massachusetts in places like Gloucester, Rockport, and Worcester, with the Bay State providing a beautiful backdrop for what has become one of the buzziest shows of 2026. While stars like Matthew Rhys and Kate O’Flynn (who each picked up Emmy nominations) certainly deserve their flowers for the show’s success, along with creator Katie Dippold, it’s hard to imagine the series working as well as it does without the magic of its Massachusetts setting.
For those who haven’t seen the show yet (what are you waiting for?), Rhys, up for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, plays Tom Loftis. He’s the stressed out mayor of a New England island (where exactly is a mystery) who just wants to turn the fictional Widow’s Bay into the next Martha’s Vineyard. However, he’s forced to contend with supernatural threats that have long haunted his community.
Rhys should be a favorite to win at the upcoming Emmys (possibly picking up multiple awards, as he’s also nominated in the limited or anthology series or movie category for “The Beast in Me”), as should costar O’Flynn, who plays the mayor’s assistant, Patricia. O’Flynn, up for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, has become beloved by fans over the course of the show’s first season. Not only does she nail every comedic moment, but O’Flynn also brings such a depth to Patricia, a woman self-conscious about her struggles to fit in with her hometown after all these years, yet so fiercely protective of her co-workers and community, she is willing to go guns ablaze against a killer boogeyman and unafraid of undead colonial guests.
But even the show’s stars will tell you that the secret sauce behind “Widow’s Bay” is the Bay State itself and how it helped immerse the cast, crew, and audience into the story.
“Once we shot there, it just enriched it tenfold,” Rhys told me for a piece on the show earlier this year.
“You immediately have this kind of mythical mysticism surrounding it,” he said. “That New England history so perfectly lent to this piece.”
And it’s true. Watching the show, especially on a dreary rainy night in late spring from my couch in Boston, I couldn’t help but feel sucked into the horror New England vibes, amplified by all the local touches of area watering holes and coastal neighborhoods popping up that made the series feel so lived in. And it’s great that the show decided to film in Massachusetts instead of elsewhere, because it’s hard to fake that authentic New England feel, which permeates “Widow’s Bay.”
I’m also glad that stars like Rhys and O’Flynn didn’t try to ham up Boston or New England accents either, which I think would’ve taken viewers out of the show. The straight-laced, more generic American accents worked just fine, and Root (up for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series) brings plenty of that salty sailor New England gravitas all on his own as Wyck. And kudos to all the locals cast on the show who helped bring that Bay State authenticity. Boston Casting’s Angela Peri and Lisa Lobel scored a first-time Emmy nomination for their help with location casting for “Widow’s Bay,” part of the team nominated for outstanding casting for a comedy series.
From the people to its setting, the Bay State helped “Widow’s Bay” shine this year, and probably deserves a shoutout from the Emmys stage should the show pick up some hardware in September.
Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.
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