Kingston Rumi Southwick leaning in the doorway in Widow’s Bay Image via Apple TV
When the topic of Apple TV’s best new series of the year comes up, it’s legitimately acceptable to name at least four and still be considered correct. Not too long ago, the streamer debuted the comedy-drama show Margo’s Got Money Troubles, starring Elle Fanning as a young mother who turns to OnlyFans to support her family. The series received widespread acclaim and is now sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes. More recently, Apple unveiled its mysterious follow-up to For All Mankind, an alt-history sci-fi thriller titled Star City, which appears to have settled at a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes a few weeks into its run. Just this week, the streamer debuted the biggest show on its summer lineup, a limited series remake of Martin Scorsese‘s Cape Fear, which holds a 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, one title ranks head and shoulders above the rest.
This is saying something, given how well these other series have been received. However, easily the most acclaimed Apple TV show of recent times is a horror-comedy-thriller from Katie Dippold, who remains best known for her work on Parks and Recreation. But it’s only a matter of time before the industry recognizes her as the creative genius behind Widow’s Bay. Starring Matthew Rhys as the mayor of a small town whose citizens believe it’s a hotbed for supernatural activity, the series premiered on April 19, but it wasn’t exactly a breakout hit immediately. However, with growing word of mouth, Widow’s Bay recently claimed the number one spot on the Apple TV viewership charts, according to FlixPatrol.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Apple TV Is on a Legendary Streak
It’s still among the top three, and will likely spike again when it airs its final two episodes of the season. Widow’s Bay is poised to conclude its debut 10-episode season on June 17, and is currently sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “Katie Dippold successfully continues to invest in eccentricity with this outlandish horror-comedy that stokes the genre’s well-worn tropes to winning effect, bringing scares, laughs, and a game cast.” In her review, Collider’s Emily Bernard hailed it as “Apple’s weirdest, boldest show yet.” You can catch up with the show ahead of its finale this month and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
April 28, 2026
Network
Apple TV
Showrunner
Katie Dippold
Directors
Sam Donovan, Andrew DeYoung, Hiro Murai, Ti West
Writers
Alberto Roldán, Neil Casey, Kelly Galuska, Colton Dunn, Dave Harris, Katie Dippold, Mackenzie Dohr
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