Actress Betty Gilpin and series creator Katie Dippold have shared insights into the production of the surprise 1702 flashback episode of Apple TV's horror-comedy series "Widow's Bay."
The sixth episode of the freshman season, released in May 2026, explores the town's evil origins.
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Gilpin plays Sarah Warren, a woman entering an arranged marriage with the town founder, played by Hamish Linklater.
The standalone installment was directed by Ti West and filmed after the main cast completed the contemporary segments of the show.
Filming on Historical Grounds
Production took place at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts, a historical site connected to the 1693 Salem Witch Trials.
Gilpin described the unique atmosphere of filming the period piece on pre-existing contemporary television sets.
"It really felt like we were ghosts in somebody else's house," Gilpin told Variety.
She noted that the production crew had to shift gears significantly at the end of a long shoot to create the historical look.
"You could tell every department, from hair and makeup, to the camera crew, to Katie were doing their opus-level work here," Gilpin said.
"It was a lot to ask a crew to make a 1702 indie at the end of a months-long shoot."
Gilpin recalled spending her filming breaks in 18th-century attire while surrounded by modern props from the show's main timeline.
"Our cast chairs and crafty table were set up on all their contemporary sets," she said.
The production arrangement led to unusual contrasts between historical costumes and the modern environment during downtime.
"I watched some of the first episodes and was like, 'I napped on that couch' and 'I think I accidentally left my protein bar wrapper on that desk,'" Gilpin said.
The filming environment shifted to the authentic historical homestead to capture outdoor and period-accurate scenes.
"I'm dressed in garb of that time, wandering around this real woman's home and its grounds," Gilpin said.
She recounted a moment during a logistical break: "There was a day when I peed in the woods, holding up all my skirts, and I was like, 'I bet Rebecca Nurse did this very thing in this very spot.'
Then I wandered around the corner of the house on a lunch break one day, and I scared one of the grips.
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He was like, 'You can't just float around the corner dressed like that. You scared the shit out of me.'"
Exploring Town Mythology
Series creator Katie Dippold explained that the flashback serves to interrogate the fictional town's collective mythology and the perception of its founding father.
The origin narrative almost changed during the pilot production because of an early joke regarding the founder's physical appearance.
"I remember at the last minute, before shooting the pilot, I knew then we were going to see this flashback episode, and I was like, 'This man is going to have to have a face for us to do this, and we need to change that joke,'" Dippold said.
Dippold designed the character of Sarah to provide an optimistic perspective that clashes with the grim realities of the haunted island.
"The soul of the show is that there are horrors big and small," she said.
The narrative balances supernatural elements with historical realities of women in arranged marriages during the colonial era.
"Sarah is going to this haunted island where there's a plague going on, and her husband turns out to be this monster.
But there's also the emotional horror of how she's about to marry someone she's never met before, and she's desperate for it because she doesn't want to be a spinster, as they would have said back then," Dippold said.
The episode incorporates awkward social interactions alongside traditional horror tropes.
"There's the tiny little social horrors, like when she gets there and she makes a joke that the guy doesn't hear," Dippold said.
"He makes her repeat it, and it falls flat. That, to me, is one of the bigger horrors of life."
Dippold emphasized that the execution relied heavily on Gilpin's performance.
"You can imagine how easily this episode and a moment like that could fall apart with someone that wasn't Betty Gilpin.
I think she's iconic. She just sells the horror in her eyes, and her acting," Dippold said.
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The series continues to stream its first season episodes on Apple TV.
