Matthew Rhys’ Best ‘Widow’s Bay’ Character Trait Came From This 5-Season Series

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Published Aug 24, 2026, 2:56 PM EDT

Taylor Vollman is a contributor at Collider. She has long quipped, “T.V. is my name, TV is my game.” Fortuitous initials aside, at the heart of a tired joke is a simple truth — she has a lifelong passion for television. And along with it, an affinity for movies, music and pop culture.

In a childhood time capsule, she had listed Friends, PB&J Otter, and Days of Our Lives among her favorite shows. But her tastes have not narrowed with age. Her viewing habits span TV Land classics, network hits, buzzy reality shows and streamer critical darlings.

Hoping to merge this passion with her love of writing, Taylor earned a bachelor’s in media arts and design with a minor in film studies from James Madison University. After working in marketing for years, she wanted to sharpen her skills and went on to graduate with a master’s in journalism from Georgetown University. Taylor has since pursued entertainment writing and reporting.

Matthew Rhys is a man of many accents, shapeshifting into an American for most of his star-making roles. The Welsh actor rose to acclaim on The Americans, earning an Emmy win for FX’s Cold War-era drama and has since earned nominations for HBO’s Perry Mason and Netflix’s The Beast in Me. Donning American accents in all of these roles, he has recently skyrocketed in popularity thanks to Apple TV+’s breakout hit Widow’s Bay.

In Widow’s Bay, Rhys transformed into the well-intentioned but ineffective Mayor Tom Loftis — a single father trying to increase tourism while fighting supernatural forces on the titular New England island. The series was created by former Parks and Recreation writer Katie Dippold and has already been renewed for a second season. Rhys' longtime fans might have noticed something familiar. Or rather, they heard something familiar. For the horror comedy, Rhys tapped into an accent he perfected 20 years ago on Brothers & Sisters.

Matthew Rhys Used a ‘High Register’ to Play Kevin Walker on ‘Brothers & Sisters’

Rhys landed his first series regular role 20 years ago on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, which premiered in 2006 and ran for five seasons. He starred alongside the likes of Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Dave Annable, Rachel Griffiths, and Rob Lowe. Created by Jon Robin Baitz, the series followed the Walkers, a family of adult siblings rocked by the revelation their recently deceased father had a longtime affair and a secret love child. Rhys’ Kevin, a lawyer, made history for his wedding to Scotty (Luke Macfarlane), with ABC News reporting their ceremony was the first between a same-sex couple on an American network.

Rhys admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he and Annable pitched a holiday special to wrap-up the series, which obviously didn’t come to fruition. But while he couldn’t revisit Brothers & Sisters, he could apply aspects of this early character throughout his career. Both Kevin Walker and Mayor Tom Loftis share similarities, including a high-strung nature. During a June 2026 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rhys revealed he pulled upon this pivotal career role when constructing his Widow’s Bay character. “I wanted a slightly higher [vocal] register because Kevin was always slightly annoyed and pleading with people in the same way Tom is,” he told the publication.

Mayor Tom Loftis Doesn’t Have a Massachusetts Accent

Matthew Rhys gripping a bag and staring dully ahead in Widow's Bay

Luckily, Rhys didn’t have to worry much about making Kevin’s accent more regionally acceptable to fit into the world of Widow’s Bay. As a part of the mystery’s lore, Loftis is an outsider compared to the residents born on the island who are unable to ever safely leave. During a recent appearance on Daily Beast’s Obsessed podcast, Rhys admitted he wanted to sound more generally American as a way of othering Loftis from his neighbors who have heavier Massachusetts accents.

Kevin’s Californian accent also didn’t need to be stripped down much. Brothers & Sisters was set in Pasadena, California. As Rhys admitted during his Daily Beast's Obsessed appearance, “I actually found Californian a little tricky because it’s very subtle.”

Using an American Accent Helped Matthew Rhys’ Performance

Matthew Rhys as Tom in Widows Bay, waving at the edge of the water.

Not being able to use his natural Welsh accent possibly helped his performance in Widow’s Bay. “It’s like you’re spending so much time thinking about the way you sound, it can relax you in a different way because you’re not thinking about acting,” Rhys theorized during a August 2026 episode of the LA Times’ Envelope podcast. And while “relaxed” is not a go-to word when describing Loftis, Rhys’ performance is fully lived-in.

Widow's Bay is one of his most emotive roles to date. Loftis is always on the brink of a crisis, or at least a bigger crisis. Whether stuck in a haunted hotel, facing a sea hag, tripping on mushrooms, or just dealing with his constituents, Rhys is able to convey his level of stress with very few words. Without an island curse to contend with, Kevin is a bit more restrained than Loftis. But in a family facing the likes of death, ideological clashes, infertility, and marriage woes, Rhys provides a fully-realized character in Kevin.

The voice is one of an actor’s greatest tools and Rhys wields it with careful precision, developing accents that fit into the world of each role. So it seems a bit shocking when two characters who seem nothing alike on paper — a California lawyer and a small-town mayor with otherworldly battles — share a central nature that Rhys can tap into. While longtime fans will recognize the bits of Kevin Walker revisited for Mayor Tom Loftis, the application feels new and relevant to Widow’s Bay.