Tom and a sacrificial victim in Widow's Bay
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Deaths? Curses? 8 bell tolls? Explaining the Widow’s Bay finale and cliffhanger ending

There's a lot to unpack

Daisy Phillipson
17th June 2026, 11:30
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*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Widow’s Bay episode 10*

A lot goes down in the Widow’s Bay finale, so buckle up, as we’re breaking down whether Ruth dies, and what those eight bell tolls mean for the island now that we know season two of the Apple TV show is definitely happening.

Last week, Rosemary (Dale Dickey) dug into the genealogy of Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). Tom (Matthew Rhys), Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), and Wyck (Stephen Root) had previously discovered that the only way to lift the island’s curse is to eradicate his bloodline. 

Turns out, one of his daughters survived hundreds of years ago, and though their family suffered consistent tragedies, seemingly one person made it through to the present day: Tom’s elderly assistant Ruth (K Callan).

In the finale, Tom heads to Ruth’s home, while the rest of the townsfolk take shelter after a huge storm engulfs the island. As it turns out, our theories were true: After drugging poor Ruth, she ends up confessing that she had a baby with a married man when she was 40. 

She gave the baby up to be raised by the man and his family, but she always knew who the child was. And that child is Tom’s now-deceased wife Lauren (Meredith Casey), meaning their son Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) is the last remaining descendant of Warren’s. 

So now Tom is faced with the ultimate predicament: Kill his own son to save the rest of the town or keep Evan alive and put his people in danger. 

In the end, the curse makes the decision for him. After one of the islanders, Kenny, ends up getting trapped in the sacrificial chamber below the town, he becomes the entity’s latest victim. 

All of a sudden, the storm stops and the Widow’s Bay residents are free… but not for long. 

What do the bell tolls mean?

Wyck and Patricia in Widow's Bay
Credit: Apple TV

As Tom and Evan drive away to live their lives, presumably still on the island due to the curse, the bell toll is heard ringing eight times. And as Dale (Jeff Hiller) discovered from the old informational video in the bunker, it’s “one soul for each toll”. 

“The bad times will not end until the covenant is honoured, and honoured fully,” the man in the video says. “The island will make its needs known.”

If you remember, in Widow’s Bay episode three, Reverend Bryce (Toby Huss) tells Tom that the town’s church bell woke him up and rang nine times.

It’s unclear if these nine deaths were satisfied with the other character deaths we’ve seen so far – such as Bryce, who died by suicide – or if eight other townsfolk were eaten by the entity off screen. 

Either way, we now know for certain that the curse now wants eight more souls, and this terrifying cycle will start all over again. 

Is Ruth dead?

France's brooch in Widow's Bay
Credit: Apple TV

Again, this is quite ambiguous. We don’t actually see Ruth die, but we can assume she passed on due to the final scene, as Tom throws the Warren family heirloom – France’s brooch – into the sea. 

Why would he do that if she was still alive? Also she’s in her 80s and her body went through a lot in the Widow’s Bay finale. 

After looking through her medical records, Tom spotted a doctor’s warning to not take her Oxycodone and Diazepam at the same time. Eventually, he makes the tricky decision to poison her with these medications, but as they start to take effect, that’s when she tells him about her daughter. 

And anyway, the drugs don’t appear to have done the job anyway. But as Tom hugs Ruth, Sheriff Bechir (Kevin Carroll) storms in and shoots Ruth in the head. 

He knows about the curse, his wife is about to have a baby, and he doesn’t want his child to grow up not being able to leave Widow’s Bay. Tom tells him Ruth isn’t the last descendent after the fact, although he doesn’t let slip that Warren’s descendent is Evan. 

Before Bechir can get the truth, the storm stops, at which point Ruth stirs. Turns out, the bullet only grazed her head, although she’s not in a good way and is confused. 

We don’t see her die, but in the final scene, Tom drives Evan to the beach and he throws the brooch in the water. Presumably, she’s dead, but we can’t be certain. 

What’s in store for Widow’s Bay season 2?

Bechir is equally confused, asking, “Why did it stop?” Ultimately, the curse must have been satisfied somehow. Ending Widow’s Bay with so many questions left unanswered is a risky move, especially since Apple TV only recently renewed the horror series for season two. 

But director and executive producer Hiro Murai explained to Polygon why the finale still works as a conclusion to the story. 

“I’ve always thought about this show as a story about Tom’s relationship to the town. The throughline for the whole season is Tom accepting that this place is what it is,” Murai told the outlet. 

“So even though we don’t get into the minutia of what ultimately that thing is underneath the island, and whether we’re going save this town or not, really the arc is whether Tom can accept the reality of this place, and if he’s willing to do what it takes to sort of protect it. 

“To me, it felt like a satisfying character arc.”

On the topic of whether the curse has been lifted, Murai explained, “This island has gone through cycles. 

“There were periods that were really bad, and then it settled down and it would become mythology, and then it would rear its head again. So even if we ended the story here, it was about this cycle of haunts.”

Although he couldn’t delve into season two, as creator Katie Dippold is working on it right now, he did say, “By the end of the season, we’re kind of resetting the table, but Tom has the secret that he has to kind of keep from the rest of the town and, and he and Bechir have this sort of relationship now. There’s a lot to play with.”

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Featured image credit: Apple TV