Matthew Rhys on the Apple show’s unique horror-comedy tone

Apple TV A teaser has been released for Widows Bay Earlier this month, the horror series took on an unexpectedly scary look, mixing ominous music with creepy sequences in a New England island town. However, the end of the trailer reveals that this series is not your typical jumpscare show.

“I don’t understand,” he says. Matthew ReeseHe plays Tom Loftis, the mayor of a town perplexed by the story of a murderous sea hag. “How do you die?” Stephen Root’s character gives a surprising answer. “She crawls into your bed and sits on your face.”

The punchline represents the level of comedy infused throughout creator Katie Dippold’s work. Widows Bay. The series is set in Widow’s Bay, 40 miles off the New England coast. Mayor Tom Loftis (Rhys) is desperately trying to revive his struggling community as it faces challenges including no Wi-Fi, poor cell phone reception and superstitious locals who believe the area is cursed. Loftis remains determined to create a better future for his teenage son and make the island a tourist destination. As he begins to achieve his goal, old stories that seemed so absurd begin to happen and thrill the entire island. Rhys and Root star opposite Kate O’Flynn, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Caroll and Dale Dickey.

“I’ve definitely never read a book like that,” Rhys said during an Apple TV panel discussion at Santa Monica press day in February. “I grew up seeing these things. wicker man and jaw These things, and these were all things I always thought I would never be able to do. Once I knew it was this mashup and meeting these two things, it was done in a millisecond. “It’s truly become my dream job.”

Murai is best known for his works. atlanta and bearI agreed with the show’s unique tone. “I’ve never read anything like it before. It feels like a TV show from the past, but at the same time it’s so modern. To be honest, when I first read it, I still don’t know what it is, and that’s always the most interesting place to start,” he said of working with Dippold, who had experience mixing horror and comedy after writing the feature. Haunted Mansion and Ghostbusters. “I’ve never read a book that had so much hard comedy and really scary, scary horror within it while trying to be honest about the emotional lives of these characters. It felt like we were hanging on to two sled dogs at the same time.”

Rhys added that the laughter wasn’t just for fun. “You can’t consciously choose to be comedic. It all comes down to how things actually play out in the situation and what comes next,” he said. “Almost every script surprised me in the true sense of the word. Just seeing the visual world or the visual mind of Hiro Murai and the way you bring things to life was a pleasure. I was often like, oh my god, it’s so dark. I was constantly amazed in the best way, and obviously there was nothing I could say into the microphone.”

The 10-part series is scheduled to premiere worldwide with the first three parts ending on Wednesday, April 29. New episodes will continue every Wednesday until June 17th.