Matthew Rhys on Leading ‘Widow’s Bay’ and Embracing Television

Matthew Rhys, 51, completed a six-month shoot for the second series of “Presumed Innocent” before headlining Apple TV’s horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay.” He portrays Tom Loftis, mayor of a New England island where locals claim no one can ever leave. The series, directed by Hiro Murai and created by Katie Dippold, blends folklore-driven dread with sitcom-style humor, marking Rhys’s first sustained comedic lead. He balances his demanding schedule with family life in Brooklyn, where he lives with actress Keri Russell and their ten-year-old son.

The Guardian

Rhys’s U.S. television career spans two decades, beginning with a five-year stint on “Brothers and Sisters.” He won an Emmy for a Soviet spy role in “The Americans” and earned four additional nominations, including for a guest spot in “Girls.” He later led the 2020 “Perry Mason” reboot and starred opposite Claire Danes in “The Beast in Me.” He has lived in the United States for 20 years. After a stage run of “The Graduate,” he faced a six-month unemployment stretch that led him to briefly consider military enlistment, reinforcing his outsider perspective. He also recalled a “Girls” scene with a prosthetic penis, hoping the prop was disinfected.

The Guardian

“Widow’s Bay” pushes Rhys beyond his dramatic comfort zone, pairing horror with comedy to echo his outsider identity as a Welsh actor in America. The series highlights television’s slow-burn storytelling, enabling nuanced character development beyond film’s time limits. Murai’s visual style and Dippold’s comedy background place the show at the crossroads of genre experimentation and mainstream streaming.

The Guardian

Rhys stresses that television lets him explore complex characters over time, calling it “the perfect medium” for his work. He connects his outsider experience—from a drama-club member in Wales to a perpetual outsider in New York—to the series’ premise. He also misses the “Olympic-standard” banter of UK “sledging,” a cultural touchstone, and notes the episodic format lets him develop his outsider identity across multiple episodes.

The Guardian

• “I think TV is the perfect medium for me.” — Matthew Rhys

The Guardian

• “It was a big-swing moment. The whole thing is a big-swing project for me. It’s out of my comfort zone – it’s a bit ‘death or glory’ at times – but I loved every second of it.” — Matthew Rhys

The Guardian

• “And now I come to a different country and I’m definitely the outsider here. Weirdly, that never goes away. Even though I live here, New York is still, for me, Robert De Niro in Mean Streets. And you’re always reminded of your differences. Gabriel Byrne used to say: ‘You carry it like a hump on your back.’ It’s not quite a hump for me but it’s an awareness that you never shake. That was the great parallel for me with Tom. The same with The Americans – a foreigner pretending to be an American. I was like: ‘God, I’ve founded my career on that!’” — Gabriel Byrne (quoted by Matthew Rhys)

The Guardian

• “I was like: ‘Are you sure this is for me?’ I thought they’d sent it to the wrong guy. What did they see in me?” — Matthew Rhys

The Guardian

“Widow’s Bay” premieres on Apple TV on 29 April 2026. Rhys indicates future work will continue to leverage television’s “slow burn” to deepen his outsider narratives.

The Guardian