How Widow's Bay Sets Up a Season 2
Clear frontrunner for Show of the Year, the finale of Widow's Bay, released earlier this week, successfully closed out the series' first season.
The tenth episode was packed with all the twists, turns and inventive terror that fans of the series have come to expect. But of all the questions that remained after the credits rolled, the most pressing is whether or not the story is set to continue for Season 2, or even more. In the piece below, you'll find everything we know so far about where Widow's Bay is headed next.
Will There be a Season 2 of Widow’s Bay?
The question of whether the series’s ten-episode arc would exist as a standalone story has been on the minds of the show’s growing legion of fans ever since the first few episodes aired on Apple TV+ a few weeks back.
Thankfully, just last week, showrunner Katie Dippold signed on not only to make a second season with the streaming giant but also to a multi-year deal. There's a chance that this could mean that Widow’s Bay will be with us for quite some time, but it's more likely a sign that Apple are understandably confident in pursuing whatever Dippold (who started as a writer on Parks and Rec) decides to do next.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. For now, Season 2 is officially confirmed, and I can't wait to see what other horror genres or classic movies Dippold and her team decide to send up next.
How Does Widow's Bay Season 1 End?
In the Season 1 finale, titled ‘We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!’, we finally learned that certain lineages are not what they appeared to be. We also learned a little more about what lurks beneath the town hall. Most importantly, we learned that Ruth, Mayor Loftis’s 84-year-old secretary, is not the last remaining descendant of the town’s cursed founder, Richard Warren.
After Tom attempts to give Ruth a lethal cocktail of her own prescription drugs, she reveals (in her slightly inebriated state) that she had had an affair with a married man decades ago and had an illegitimate child with him. The girl was raised without anyone knowing it was hers. Ruth then reveals, to Tom’s horror, that the girl grew up to be his now deceased wife Lauren. This revelation also confirms a tragedy that many fans had predicted going into the finale: that Tom’s son Evan is actually the last member of the Warren bloodline.
Evan would thus have to die for the island’s curse to be lifted, something that Tom was obviously not going to let happen. Luckily, the storm that was about to engulf the island disappeared thanks to Kenny being accidentally offered as a human sacrifice in the basement of the town hall—which happened just before Sherif Bechir was about to force Tom to reveal that Evan was Warren’s heir. Drama!
How the End of Season 1 Sets up Widow’s Bay Season 2
The tenth episode ends without showing us what happened to Bechir or Ruth, although presumably the lawman got his family on the first ferry out of there, and Tom took Ruth to the hospital, where she likely survived. It also doesn’t show Tom and Evan talking to each other, so we have no idea if Tom has learned why the storm stopped or if Evan knows who exactly his great great great great great… (etc.) grandfather was.
What we do know is that the curse is very much still attached to the island and that it has no plans of departing—that is, unless both Ruth and Evan die. For the elderly woman, that’s only a matter of time. The question is, what exactly will happen to Evan if he or anyone else finds out? The only people thus far who know are Ruth and Tom, and, in a way, Bachir—although it will only be a matter of time before Wyck and Patricia start to wonder.
The finale ends with Tom casting Ruth’s brooch (a Warren family heirloom) into the ocean, just as the town’s bells toll once again to remind him that this is far from over. He heads to the car in a relaxed state, perhaps having finally accepted his fate on the island.
What Can We Expect in Season 2?
All going to plan, hopefully more of the same! Having seen classics like Carrie, Friday the 13th, and The Fog all hilariously dissected in the first season, it will be fascinating to see what other movies and horror staples Dippold looks to for inspiration for the upcoming season. Presumably, all things permitting, we can also expect the main cast to return.
Some clues for Season 2 might be found in Episodes 9 and 10—remember how Rosemary kept bringing up old stories when she was going through the Warren lineage, or how Ruth did the same when going through her old scrapbook? What happened to her boyfriend who "became" the animal that bit him, for instance? It might even be worth going back through the series a second time to keep an ear out for any other breadcrumbs that Dippold has left out. Whatever the case, we know that a big sea creature is still lurking out there somewhere and that whatever was in the basement is probably still in there, too.
Then again, one of the best things about the show so far is how quickly it's been able to introduce each week's horrors, and quickly they disappear. Let’s hope for more of that freshness and originality when Widow’s Bay returns.
