Hamish Linklater Returns as Widow’s Bay’s Haunted Patriarch

Five years after Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass made waves, Apple TV is rolling out Widow’s Bay—its Stephen King-inspired horror-comedy where a centuries-old founder’s pact keeps the island’s nightmare alive. Hamish Linklater leads as Richard Warren across Epis

When Netflix’s Midnight Mass first premiered five years ago, it didn’t just scare viewers—it stuck. Mike Flanagan’s limited series followed a small religious community on a remote fishing island that becomes overrun with vampires. threading horror through the slow unraveling and eventual growth of damaged characters who keep fighting for something bigger than themselves.

Now Apple TV is aiming for a similar kind of hold. with a new Stephen King-inspired series that leans more comedic at the edges. Widow’s Bay arrives with spooky happenings centered on another island—one where the threat isn’t simply vampires. but “every horror imaginable. ” and it all begins with the town’s founder. Richard Warren.

Hamish Linklater is the centerpiece, returning to a role that channels both dread and weird charm. Linklater was the standout in Midnight Mass. playing Father Paul Hill. a new priest on Crockett Island whose presence shifts the emotional weather for everyone around him. In Widow’s Bay. he’s back to fill the role of the haunting patriarch—episodes 6 and 7—star billing focused on Warren. a founder who’s less a normal man and more a force that refuses to stay buried.

The series uses that refusal like a hook. Warren’s evil pact is the engine behind the terror on the island: the bargain ensures he can never die while on the island. Hundreds of years later. modern citizens unearth his grave. and Warren emerges bearded and coated in dust as the skeletal founder of Widow’s Bay. The tone is creepier than ever. but it comes with a sharp edge of humor—Warren’s malice doesn’t arrive only as a threat. It arrives as stubbornness, as he refuses to go quietly.

Episode 6, “Our Town,” turns the spotlight on what brought Widow’s Bay to this point. The episode delves into the history of the town and shows the evil pact Warren made to ensure its safety—framed not as a trick meant to mislead viewers. but as something that lands exactly as it sounds. The show leans into horror tropes. including the idea that a comedic approach can still carry real momentum. and it treats Warren like another entity that has to be dealt with.

Even with the island’s horrors in motion. Widow’s Bay still feels anchored by characters who can’t help reacting like people caught in something bigger than they understand. Matthew Rhys plays Mayor Tom Loftis as a reluctant everyman—someone who starts as a nonbeliever and then gets pulled into the fight anyway. His unlikely shift leads him toward Stephen Root’s wise local character. Wyck. as the pair forces Warren back into the grave.

The series doesn’t pretend it’s above the genre it’s playing with. It’s self-aware enough to understand its own horror machinery, and it uses that awareness to subvert tropes humorously. Linklater remains a major draw here. not just for returning to familiar territory. but for how his Warren functions as both horror and entertainment—the kind of antagonist who gives the show permission to be unsettling without losing its bounce.

By the time Widow’s Bay lands on Apple TV. it’s clear the show isn’t trying to duplicate Midnight Mass beat-for-beat. It’s taking its own angle on what a haunting can be: tropes turned comedic. characters turned charming. and a founder whose pact keeps the island’s nightmare looping—until someone finally finds the will to break the cycle.

Widow’s Bay is set to release on April 28, 2026, on Apple TV. Katie Dippold serves as showrunner, with directors Sam Donovan, Andrew DeYoung, Hiro Murai, and Ti West. Writers include Alberto Roldán, Neil Casey, Kelly Galuska, Colton Dunn, Dave Harris, Katie Dippold, and Mackenzie Dohr.

Widow’s Bay Hamish Linklater Apple TV Midnight Mass Mike Flanagan Stephen King-inspired horror Richard Warren Mayor Tom Loftis Wyck Matthew Rhys Stephen Root horror-comedy