On Widow’s Bay, a show currently decorated with 19 Emmy nominations, the line between cozy New England charm and creeping dread is often found in the details. 

Set against the remote, insular world of its titular island, production designer Steve Arnold and set decorator Jennifer Engel created a lived-in, slightly stuck in time and, when necessary, deeply unsettling environment. Arnold and Engel had to build a visual language that could accommodate the series’ peculiar blend of horror and comedy without tipping too far in either direction. That meant creating spaces that could feel warm and inviting one moment and ominous the next, from the inn’s welcoming parlor infused with haunted crawl spaces to the nautically-themed The Salty Whale restaurant and the period-accurate environments of the colonial-era town in Episode 6’s “Our History”. 

Below, Arnold and Engel reveal the fun, creative challenges of filming on location in Massachusetts, hidden details and collaborating with creator-showrunner Katie Dippold and director/EP Hiro Murai to establish the show’s distinctive visual language. 

DEADLINE: You shot in Massachusetts to really capture the vibe of the island. What were some creative challenges that this introduced or satisfied?

STEVE ARNOLD: Both Jennifer and I had used the studios in Devens, which are proper studios. There are four stages and all of that. The producers may have thought, “We’ll find a whole bunch of locations that are going to work perfectly,” and that usually doesn’t work out the way they hope [laughs]. Trying to do something that looks like it’s on a remote island when you’re on the mainland is always a bit tricky. So we ended up building a lot more interior sets than we thought we were going to. And because we were shooting on stages but also had to be near the water for the swimming, the ferry boat, and a few other things, that meant driving a long way to get to the coast, and that eats up a lot of production time. So that was minimized as much as possible.

We did have some locations for the little town places that were nearby where the stages were, like the shot of the Driftwood Diner interior and the exterior of the church was an existing church. The interior of the Historical Society was in the small town of Shirley, which was farther away.

We were extremely lucky to find the exterior of Richard Warren’s house. That house exists, and it is proper from the period, 1600-something, and hadn’t been changed or messed with very much. People actually live in that house.

Steve Arnold, production designer.

DEADLINE: I want to talk to you both about three episodes specifically. First, Episode 2, “Lodging”. The inn feels charming and a little ominous. What were some visual rules you established to create that balance between comfy and spooky?

ARNOLD: We had trouble finding a proper exterior. So, we built the captain suite, the corridor and hallway, which was pretty straightforward. We had some elements that Jennifer had to come up with, like a working TV that was from the ’70s or ’80s or whatever, and that’s always a tricky situation. But Katie [Dippold] was very specific about a lot of things – for example – the fact that there were paintings on the wall that told part of the story. We had to go around quite a bit to get the right tone and feel.

I wanted the parlor area, where they play the games, to be slightly warmer and a little more inviting, so they’re spending a little more time there. But those rooms, the captain suite corridor and everything leading to that, are a little bit on the cooler side. And then, of course, we did the basement of the inn and the crawl space, which had to be pretty creepy and pretty scary. We ended up building all of that. The crawl space had to do certain things, and the actor had to move in a certain way, so it was engineered pretty carefully. It was built in forced perspective, so it seemed bigger than it was.

But I’m glad that we did get to see the games pretty clearly because she was specific about those games. It was a very fun element that harkens back to a time when people would pass the time doing things other than looking at their phone.

DEADLINE: What were some props or set dressing that were designed to hint at the town’s mythology before viewers understood their significance?

JENNIFER ENGEL: I think we were trying very carefully not to be the source of ominousness or the source of comedy. We were really trying to be the quiet infrastructure for the actors and the script to really shine. There were definitely pieces of furniture that we introduced that later on had to serve a very specific function. But for the most part, we kept things quiet, avoided distractions, and did not give anything away.

DEADLINE: Right. I’m sure trying to walk that tightrope of horror-comedy couldn’t be too outlandish because it might make the show a little too cartoony or silly. Can you talk a bit more about the parameters or difficulty of that? You do have to play the straight man while all of this stuff is happening, don’t you?

ENGEL: Exactly. There was also this nebulous, ill-defined sense of time because we were trying to show how this place is very remote and it’s not up-to-date. They don’t have great Wi-Fi; all their technology is “primitive”, like tube TVs and dial phones on the wall and clunky desktop computers. We were trying to tell the story that these New England thrifty people try to preserve and keep stuff going as long as they can because of their thrifty New England styling and the incredible inconvenience of the distance and remoteness of this island, and tried to tell that part of the story without being too, like you said, the straight man in the joke.

People really loved the key fobs at the inn; those were prized. And the stick figure sculptures at Patricia’s party. Those were amazing.

Jennifer Engel, set decorator.

DEADLINE: Now, over to Episode 4’s “Beach Reads”, which starts relatively fine and then becomes a descent into madness. Where was the ocean part of it filmed?

ARNOLD: We shot part of it in Rockport in Bearskin Neck. It’s a little area where we first see Patricia’s (Kate O’Flynn) bookmobile and the book is introduced and all of that. We ended up trying to do the ocean thing at night, which is a really tricky situation. The fire was a combination of a lighting effect that we did at the location, and then we did filming of the actual fire in the parking lot. And the post-production people married that together to make it seem realistic.

And then, of course, props had gotten very involved in the book when it morphs into this horrific, scary book. A lot of effort went into researching different mystical, strange calligraphy and all kinds of diagram stuff that are in that.

DEADLINE: How fun was it to add the little flourishes? Was there anything that wasn’t in this restaurant before that you guys threw in specifically for this episode that didn’t exist before or after in the restaurant?

ARNOLD: A buffet table, some flowers… There were a couple of things that were specified. We needed this mirror against the wall so we could actually see these [character] reaction shots. And there’s also in the kitchen area, where a towel dispenser or something has a reflective surface on it so that Patricia can see, when she turns, that she’s got this horrific headdress on her head. The director [Sam Donovan] specifically said to do something for that in the kitchen. So, we tried to make something that seemed like it should be there because the printing on it says, “Wash Your Hands” or “Smile As If Your Tips Depended On It.”

We did go through several different versions of something shiny that she could see a reflection of herself in in the kitchen that would always be there, but solely be used for just this moment. And specifically, I had put that window in the back for the smoking scene where Rosemary [Dale Dickey] is smoking, and you can get the sense that there’s a window that looks out to where the beach would be and all of that. That was all done on a stage.

DEADLINE: I was obsessed with the sixth episode, “Our History”. It takes us back to the colonial era, and we get to see the origins of the island. Massachusetts is chock-full of history from that time, I’m sure. How did you go about picking the right set for this?

ARNOLD: We were extremely lucky to find the exterior of Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater)’s house. That house exists, and it is proper from the period, 1600-something, and hadn’t been changed or messed with very much. People actually live in that house.

DEADLINE: Oh, wow.

ARNOLD: So when we found the inside, we did take a lot of notes from it because it has not been changed much since it was built. We took a lot of notes on the way the fireplaces were built, the way the walls were done, the way the floors and the ceilings and all that was right there in front of us.

So we didn’t have to go through the libraries or things like that to find actual examples of what the door hardware looked like and what the fireplace accouterments were or the potholders and the pots and pans and everything that they used to cook with. We had a good historical reference right there.

ENGEL: And Massachusetts is rich with places and items from that period specifically. So, there was a lot available for us to do research and look into. A lot of it has been saved and cherished and not knocked down for the latest new whatever is in vogue now. It’s been kept very, very historically accurate. So, very helpful.

DEADLINE: Yeah, I always think about my trip to England, and I went to the Tower of London and noted that there was a Starbucks within like a 5-minute walking distance. That shouldn’t be.

ENGEL: It’s so disorienting [laughs].

ARNOLD: Well, we did end up having to build the town. We built the dock where the family in that episode escaped in the rowboat. We had to build the graveyard and all that, the top of the well, the tunnels and passages under the well she climbs the ladder to get out of. All that we built at the various spots where we found something that was right, and then we just augmented it.

DEADLINE: If someone was to pause any frame from any Widow’s Bay episode, what details would you hope they notice that might not register on a first viewing?

ARNOLD: When they’re playing the game, “Daddy’s Home”, in the inn,  you’ll notice that the pieces that they move around the board are all things that are not nice. There’s a bat, there’s a belt, there’s a newspaper rolled up, and they’re things that when Daddy is mad, Daddy could slap you around with something. And that is a very subtle little thing that you might not notice, but if you look carefully, you’ll see them.

DEADLINE: That’s lowkey scary. Was there a prop on set that everyone on the crew became unexpectedly attached to?

ENGEL: People really loved the key fobs at the inn; those were prized. And the stick figure sculptures at Patricia’s party. Those were amazing.

DEADLINE: What was your favorite set design?

ARNOLD: I loved the way the town hall came out. We were able to find old glass that has the slight waveriness that old glass has. Little detailed stuff like that separates it from ordinary sets. The Salty Whale set came out very well too, and we based it on a place in Marblehead that I think Katie had been to. She really liked it. We never saw pictures of the place, but what we came up with, like Jennifer’s little sconces with the ship wheel and the shades of red on them… we also changed the lighting at the last minute because it just wasn’t working. I think it came out well for the feel that Katie was looking for.

ENGEL: I was really excited about Patricia’s house; Steve and the art directors presented me with the drawing for that set and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun if I got in your business?” [laughs]. We had some built-in bookshelves. Steve was very amenable. Thank you, Steve. And we got to have built-in bookshelves at Patricia’s in her living room, which I was really pleased with.

I thought it really warmed up that space and made it feel more real, or just helped with giving it a life texture. I loved how it worked out. And I really appreciate the trust that Steve gave me, and he lets me go crazy. I really appreciate the trust that Steve gives me to collaborate, and it makes my job so much more rewarding and fun that way.