Need more shows like ‘Widow’s Bay’? Start with these
Need more shows like ‘Widow’s Bay’? Start with these
These creepy mystery shows keep the small-town weirdness going after the Season 1 finale.
My wife Tara and I loved Season 1 of “Widow’s Bay” because this show pulls off a tone most shows can’t get anywhere near. It’s genuinely funny, but it’s also genuinely scary, and that combination is so hard to make work without one side killing the other. The mystery is great, the island feels fully built-out, and the whole thing has that Stephen King feeling I’m always chasing because I’ve read pretty much everything he’s written.
With the Season 1 finale dropping this week and Season 2 already officially ordered, this is a perfect time to start lining up your next creepy small-town mystery. So, if you’re already missing the weird residents, old legends, horror-comedy balance, and cursed New England energy, these are the four shows I’d watch next.
Widow’s Bay
The mayor of a New England town resolves to turn it into the next tourist hot spot, despite local warnings that it’s cursed.
Loved ‘Widow’s Bay’? Watch: ‘Midnight Mass’
“Midnight Mass” is the closest match if what you loved most about “Widow’s Bay” was the isolated island atmosphere. The Netflix limited series is set on Crockett Island, where a struggling community starts to change after a charming young priest arrives and brings what seem like miracles with him. At first, the town feels like it’s being pulled back to life. Then the mystery gets darker, the religious energy gets more intense, and the whole place starts to feel like it’s being swallowed by something much bigger than anyone understands.
That makes “Midnight Mass” a really strong follow-up to “Widow’s Bay” because both shows understand how powerful an isolated community can be. Everyone knows everyone, and that makes every strange event feel personal. The big difference is that “Midnight Mass” is much heavier. It’s sadder, more serious, and way more spiritual. But if you loved the island dread, the small-town belief system, and the feeling that the whole community is trapped inside a story bigger than itself, this is the next stop.
Midnight Mass
The arrival of a charismatic young priest brings glorious miracles, ominous mysteries and renewed religious fervor to a dying town desperate to believe.
Check out: ‘FROM’
“FROM” is the town-as-nightmare pick. The MGM+ series is about a small town that traps everyone who enters, which is already a pretty horrible situation before you even get to the creatures that come out of the surrounding forest at night. The residents are not just trying to survive — they’re trying to figure out the rules of the place, why they’re there, why they can’t leave, and what the town actually wants from them. So yes, not exactly relaxing dinner viewing.
The reason “FROM” works after “Widow’s Bay” is simple: in both shows, the place is the mystery. “Widow’s Bay” gives you a cursed island where old stories start coming true right as the mayor is trying to drag the town into a better future. “FROM” takes that idea and makes it even meaner. The town isn’t just weird — it’s a trap. This one is less funny, less cozy, and much more intense, but if the thing you loved about “Widow’s Bay” was trying to decode the town itself, “FROM” will absolutely scratch that itch.
FROM
Unravel the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.
Watch next: ‘Wayward Pines’
I was so excited when “Wayward Pines” first came out because I read the book, and I could not put it down. Truly, one of the most engrossing books I’ve ever read. The show follows a Secret Service agent who arrives in a strange Idaho town while searching for missing federal agents, only to realize almost immediately that something is deeply wrong. The homes look nice, the lawns look nice, the people look normal enough, but the longer he stays there, the more obvious it becomes that Wayward Pines is not a place you can just leave.
That’s the connection to “Widow’s Bay.” Both shows are built around a town that performs normalcy while hiding something rotten underneath. “Widow’s Bay” has the quaint New England island, the local legends, the curse, and the civic panic. “Wayward Pines” has the perfect little town where the politeness starts feeling threatening almost immediately. It’s not as funny as “Widow’s Bay,” and it’s more of a paranoid thriller than a horror-comedy, but it absolutely still stands up. If you love small-town mysteries where every street, house, and side character feels like a clue, this is an easy next watch.
Wayward Pines
Imagine the perfect American town… beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets. Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you’re going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines.
Wildcard pick: ‘Evil’
“Evil” is the wildcard because it’s not really a small-town mystery show, but tonally, it belongs here. The Paramount+ series follows a skeptical psychologist, a priest-in-training, and a contractor as they investigate possible miracles, hauntings, possessions, and other strange cases that sit right on the line between science and religion. Sometimes there’s a rational explanation… and sometimes there really might not be.
Both shows are really good at shifting from funny to unsettling without losing control of the tone. “Widow’s Bay” can give you a weird island joke and then actually scare you a minute later. “Evil” does that too, just through investigations, religious arguments, creepy cases, and a lot of very strange modern anxieties. It’s more procedural and more philosophical, while “Widow’s Bay” is more rooted in one cursed community. But if what you loved was the balance of wit, dread, and the constant question of whether something supernatural is really happening, “Evil” is the perfect left-field pick.
Evil
Skeptical forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard joins priest-in-training David Acosta and technology expert Ben Shakir as they investigate supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and other extraordinary occurrences to assess for a scientific explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work.
More to watch after finishing ‘Widow’s Bay’ Season 1:
‘Lovecraft Country’ | HBO Max
Lovecraft Country
The anthology horror series follows 25-year-old Atticus Freeman, who joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. They must survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the malevolent spirits that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.
‘Deadloch’ | Prime Video
Deadloch
Two vastly different female detectives are thrown together to solve the murder of a local man in the sleepy seaside hamlet of Deadloch.
‘Twin Peaks’ | MUBI
Twin Peaks
The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.
‘Castle Rock’ | Hulu
Castle Rock
Based on the stories of Stephen King, the series intertwines characters and themes from the fictional town of Castle Rock.