‘Widow’s Bay’ Just Added a Horrific New Layer to the Town’s Creepy Lore With 1 Shocking Scene

Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for Widow’s Bay Episode 4.

If Episode 4 of the Apple TV horror-comedy series Widow’s Bay taught us anything, it’s that self-help books can be hazardous to your health on the quaint but creepy island off the coast of New England. While it seems like the biggest horror would come from the lack of wi-fi and spotty cell reception, there is something about the town’s lore that’s darker and more dangerous for the locals and tourists. Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is desperate and determined to build a better future for his teenage son as he works to turn the island into a tourist destination. The problem with his otherwise admirable goal is that, after decades of calm, the old stories that seem more creative fiction than reality have started happening again.

Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) would love nothing more than to be of value to Tom in his goals, in a way that she wasn’t in high school, where the mean girls purposely ignored and excluded her. With the mayor and local conspiracy theorist Wyck (Stephen Root), she finds a sense of comradery that she just can’t make work with her former classmates. After showing up at a social gathering where she was ostracized, she becomes set on throwing her own party to impress the people who openly dislike her and get her groove on, on the dance floor. And while she thinks she’s actually really done it, surrounded by a room full of lively people, she quickly realizes that her dream come true is more of a nightmare, as her self-help book turns out to be a grimoire, her party tiara is actually a crown made of antlers, and you don’t even want to know what’s in the punch.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with O’Flynn about how excited she was to shoot Episode 4, entitled “Beach Reads.” During the interview, she discussed digging into Patricia’s pain, working with the costume designer to find her character’s style, the misdirected hatred that Patricia finds herself at the center of, getting to dance at the party, Patricia’s reaction to learning what was really going on, that animal headpiece, the boogeyman, and how Patricia just wants to feel like she’s of value in her town.

Kate O’Flynn Was Excited To Get To Dig Into Patricia’s Backstory in ‘Widow’s Bay’

“It was such a thrill. I didn’t see it coming.”

Image via Apple TV

Collider: When you read Episode 4, what was your reaction? Did you know all of this about Patricia at the start of the series, or did this episode provide layers to her that surprised you?

KATE O’FLYNN: I had no idea. I’d done two tapes, and I was about to meet (director) Hiro [Murai] and (creator) Katie [Dippold] on a Zoom. And then, I read this episode, and it was so exciting to me. It was just such a thrill. I didn’t see it coming. And then, the synapses started pinging, with all the different colors of Patricia and all the different layers to her, with the Carrie references, the Wicker Man references, and the potential for showing the pain of what she’s going through and the ecstasy of what she feels at the party, fulfilling something that she would have dreamt about for years. I was really, really excited when I read it.

What were you told about her, about this town, and about the series in the very beginning? Because this is not a show that’s easy to describe, did you know what it would evolve into by the end of the season?

O’FLYNN: No, I don’t think any of the actors did. I think Katie would say that when you start Episode 1, you have no idea that it’s going to end where it ends. So, every time we got a script during filming, it was a page-turner to find out what happens. I remember auditioning, and the humor was not meant to be broad. They gave Barry as a reference, in terms of the tone. It just made sense to me, actually, reading the script. The world that Katie had created was very clear. It felt grounded. And all the characters, I recognized those personalities. As odd as it sounds, it really didn’t feel weird to me. It felt familiar.

I think it helps that a lot of that gets established before anything weird does happen.

O’FLYNN: Yeah. I remember the first read-through with the core cast – Matthew [Rhys], Kingston [Rumi Southwick], Stephen [Root], Dale [Dickey] and Kevin [Carroll]. We hadn’t read together, and it was all new, but it felt like there was a silent understanding of what it was and a good chemistry in the room. We were all on the same page without having talked about it.

When Patricia shows up with this group of women that are all hanging out together, they’re not particularly nice or welcoming when she comes in the door. She brings a bottle of wine, but they make snide comments about the kind of wine she brings. They don’t really include her in their conversations, and they snap at her when she goes to open a cabinet. The only one who’s really nice to her is the newest resident in town. How does Patricia feel about that?

O’FLYNN: What’s great about her is that she tries, and she just keeps trying. She’s looking for connection. She’s in a room of wolves, basically, and she’s so excited to find this new person that doesn’t know her history and her reputation. Actually, they seem like they’re on a level. In another world, they’d be friends. There is huge excitement for Patricia because she doesn’t have any friends, and she has been stuck in that role and dynamic since high school. She has never been able to reinvent herself. It’s huge. And then, it’s such a crushing blow when Shelby sides with the pack.

There’s that moment when she gets the drink spilled on her, so she has to go to the bathroom to clean up, and she thinks she’s going to return to this new friend, only to find her with the other women? How do you think she felt in that moment?

O’FLYNN: I think it’s really upsetting, but she’s used to it. There is this resilience in her where she’s like, “Yeah, I’ll take the photo, and I’m going to go home.” It’s painful for her.

We see that she’s left the party and is walking down the street, but we don’t see what happened in that moment in between. Do you think she even told anyone she was leaving?

O’FLYNN: No. I think everyone turned their back. People probably just quietly turned their backs, and she hovered around a bit too long thinking, “What do I do? I should go.” And then, she goes very quietly, and no one says bye. That’s what I think. Maybe in the first three episodes, you’re like, “What’s her deal?” She’s quietly passive-aggressive. And then, in Episode 4, you get to see what she’s been dealing with.

There’s something so sad about watching her looking through that book and getting to the page of worst features and circling them on the body. What did you think of that moment?

O’FLYNN: You’re seeing Patricia on her own. There’s no pretense there. She’s a funny mix of optimism and pain. It’s not like she’s someone that would really dwell on those insecurities, going about her day. But on her own, you see her at her most vulnerable.

How would you describe her style? Is it reflective of who she is?

O’FLYNN: I loved working with Alex Bovaird, the costume designer. She’s a genius. It took us a while to find Patricia. It was like, how does she exist in the real world? Her interior world is really big and strong. She’s very imaginative and creative, and that comes out in her poetry and her paintings and in her style. It’s slightly conservative. It’s modest. She tries to spark joy in her colleagues with a fun brooch but also needs to be practical because she’s got to walk around so she has practical shoes. It was about finding those subtle details to make her different to the other women. They’re normcore, and she’s got something else going on.

Kate O’Flynn Believes the Hatred From Patricia’s Classmates in ‘Widow’s Bay’ Is Misdirected

“She is herself, she doesn’t always say the right things, and she can be a bit annoying, but they really go for her.”

Image via Apple TV

Patricia might be a little awkward, but she’s a good person. Why do you think all these other women consistently pick on her? They tell her to let her story about the boogeyman go, but they don’t let it go either. Do you feel like that’s just an excuse and that they would just find another reason to pick on her if it wasn’t that?

O’FLYNN: Yeah. Don’t you find that people bond over finding someone to not like? It can be quite a connecting thing. Patricia can’t shapeshift. She is herself, she doesn’t always say the right things, and she can be a bit annoying, but they really go for her. They think she’s lying. They’ve lost all their friends, so they’re really upset about that, and it’s misdirected at her. It’s like she’s almost to blame for the death of all these women. The extent of the hatred for her is like she’s to blame for the death of these girls. It’s misdirected.

You did get to do a bit of dancing in this episode at the party. Did anyone coach you on what to do? Was that all you did?

O’FLYNN: Yeah. Sam [Donovan], the director, was like, “Listen, we’ve got a choreographer and we can workshop it.” I was like, “Okay, great.” So, I met with this lovely woman. Patricia is someone who watches VHS tapes of these music videos, and it’s quite an eclectic mix. She will rewind and try to get a move down in her back pocket to maybe bring out at a party one day. That’s her dream. So, we came up with a few moves from ‘90s hip-hop, and something from “Rhythm of the Night” that’s quite Bob Fosse and broad spectrum. And then, I just riffed off that and came up with a few of my own things that felt right for Patricia. It felt important that that moment was just her loving life.

Patricia Is Horrified When She Realizes What’s Really Going On at Her ‘Widow’s Bay’ Party

“It’s weirdly heartbreaking in a way that I wasn’t expecting.”

Image via Apple TV

Advertisement

There’s the moment that everything flips in this episode, and we learn that Patricia hasn’t actually been using a self-help book, that she wasn’t really wearing a tiara, and that there’s some sort of demonic spell book and animal headpiece happening instead. And then, there’s also the punch. What do you think it was like for her to realize what was going on and to figure out what was happening?

O’FLYNN: I think her stomach went to her feet. It’s absolutely horrific. And just the slow realization of, “Oh, my God, what have I done? Have I killed all these people?” She goes straight into trying to fix it mode, but it’s horrifying for her. When I read it in the script, I found it so funny because I didn’t see it coming. And then, doing it and watching it, it’s weirdly heartbreaking in a way that I wasn’t expecting. With this show, you never quite know what something is going to feel like or what any moment is going to be. That’s what’s so exciting about it.

Do you think she really believed things had turned around for her before that moment happened?

O’FLYNN: Yeah. She doesn’t see it coming that she was under a spell. There’s a hope in her that’s like, “Oh, my God, this is it. I figured it out. People love me. I’ve done it.” There’s maybe a niggling doubt with Rosemary, because Rosemary is always saying something, but she shuts it out until she can’t anymore. When you see all the dead birds and everything, it’s pretty disgusting.

Did you actually get to wear whatever the animal headpiece was?

O’FLYNN: There were three different versions of what that headpiece should be. It needed to not be funny. It needed to be scary. It needed to be the right height. Was the animal going to have teeth or no teeth? There was a bird’s nest in one of them. Hitting the right tone with the headpiece took quite a lot of figuring out. And it was quite heavy. So much craft, talent and work had gone into it, I didn’t want it to fall off my head.

Patricia Has Found Connection in ‘Widow’s Bay’ With Tom and Wyck

“There’s an inkling that she’s with her people – these two other weirdo outsiders.”

Patricia is at her lowest point when Tom and Wyck pull up and tell her to join them. What do you enjoy about that trio of the three of them? Where does she see herself in that trio? Where does she believe she fits in with them?

O’FLYNN: You’re absolutely right. She’s at her lowest point, so it’s so delightful to then suddenly have everything she’s been wanting – connection, a tribe, her buddies. Suddenly, there’s an inkling that she’s with her people – these two other weirdo outsiders. She’s gone through the fire, come out the other side, and it was there all along, in a way. They’re an unlikely band, and I always like seeing that – people that are unlikely to hang out together. It’s not like they would go to a bar and have a drink, but they find themselves in this situation, bonded in this and trying to solve this mystery and save the island.

What is her deal with the boogeyman? Does she know for sure that it was the boogeyman in her house? Does she just think that’s who it was?

O’FLYNN: She did have the experience of the boogeyman, but she did lie about the calls. She realized that everyone else had the calls, and she wanted to beef up her story, so she lied about that. That’s when it all came undone. But it did happen.

In that moment, when they realize that Reverend Bryce is dead and hanging on the other side of the door in the church, it’s almost scarier than having to face and defeat a Sea Hag or a Boogeyman.

O’FLYNN: Yes, because it’s real. It’s a real person taking their own life. I would agree that that is the scariest.

Patricia Just Wants To Feel Like She’s Part of Something in ‘Widow’s Bay’

“She has her gang.”

Image via Apple TV

Is Patricia someone who’s terrified by the unexplainable things that go on in this town, or does she find a little bit of excitement in it?

O’FLYNN: There is something uniting about having something to fight for or fight against or figure out that makes her feel of value and part of something, and she has her gang. That’s what it’s about, rather than getting excited, necessarily, about the weirdness of the things that are happening. Because that’s happening, she has friends. The building of the world of Widow’s Bay is so confidently drawn by Katie and the writing team and Hiro that you could put a lens on any of the town hall characters and there’s a lot of backstory, a lot of folklore, and a lot of things to be found in this community. I was delighted that the spotlight shone on Patricia on this episode.

Widow’s Bay is available to stream on Apple TV.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Release Date

April 29, 2026

Network

Apple TV

Advertisement

Showrunner

Katie Dippold

Advertisement

Directors

Hiro Murai

Writers

Advertisement

Katie Dippold, Kelly Galuska

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement