The wildest Widow’s Bay theories that would completely change everything in season 2

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Widow’s Bay episode 10*

Widow’s Bay episode 10 offered up some closure for our favourite islanders, but the series ended with plenty of questions left unanswered. While we wait for season two, now’s the perfect time to unpack the wildest fan theories. 

In the finale, Tom (Matthew Rhys) headed to Ruth’s (K Callan) house with the intention of killing her, believing she’s the last remaining descendent of Richard Warren’s (Hamish Linklater) bloodline. 

But after drugging her, he finds out that she had a secret child: None other than Tom’s deceased wife Lauren (Meredith Casey). As we’d predicted, their son Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) is the true descendant. 

Meanwhile, the townsfolk head to the shelter as a deadly storm engulfs the island, where we learn that it’s not really for protection – it’s actually a holding cell for sacrifices. 

Mayor Tom Loftis declares Widow’s Bay remains totally safe and open to visitors.#WidowsBay — Renewed for Season 2 pic.twitter.com/ophjrhkEqr

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) June 11, 2026

When the curse entity takes its next victim, the storm stops, and Widow’s Bay ends with Tom and Evan ready to go about their lives on the island alongside the other survivors. But right in the final moments, Tom hears the ominous church bells ringing out eight times. 

And as was revealed in the bunker, each toll represents one person who must be sacrificed to the entity. “One soul for each toll.” What happens next is anyone’s guess, but it’s far from the only mystery left unsolved. 

Thankfully, Apple TV has ordered Widow’s Bay season two, which is in the early development stages at the time of writing. Until then, fans are filling in the gaps with their theories that could have major implications for the next chapter. 

Evan’s new girlfriend is secretly part of the island’s plan

A popular theory following the finale centres on the mysterious tourist girl who has been spending more and more time with Evan.

Now that the finale has confirmed Evan is the last surviving descendant of Warren, some viewers think the island may be trying to preserve the bloodline – and Ruth’s backstory may back up this theory.

We previously learned that Ruth had no shortage of admirers, and this could be the island itself influencing events.

“This and Ruth saying all the men made a pass at her makes me think that the island was doing its best to get her pregnant,” one fan suggested.

Others believe the same thing could now be happening to Evan. “Oooo and now this girl is throwing herself at Evan! The island is trying to continue its bloodline,” wrote another. 

The theory gained even more traction after the finale once again referenced the fact that the “pull out method just doesn’t work.” 

There’s also the mystery surrounding the character. “Once again: Who is this girl, and WHERE ARE HER PARENTS?” said one. 

“Something seems off about her above and beyond regular teenage dirtbag behavior. Something weird. And she is literally never supervised. How long is her visit to the island, anyway? My spidey sense is tingling.”

Howard the Coward knew the truth

Another Widow’s Bay theory focuses on a seemingly throwaway line from Ruth about a former mayor known as “Howard the Coward.” Perhaps the nickname is hinting at a much bigger role in the island’s history.

Throughout season one, viewers learn that previous generations carefully documented how the sacrifices worked. But somewhere along the way, that knowledge was lost, leaving Tom’s generation largely unaware of what was really happening.

One Redditor believes Howard may have been responsible for continuing the pact but refused to do so. “Howard was not willing to keep the agenda of sacrifices, gaining his nickname,” they theorised.

According to this idea, Howard’s refusal allowed the pact to gradually break down, eventually leading to the events of season one.

“Nobody takes care of it, and the island of protector becomes a normal bureaucracy job, until the Island is not satisfied with the usual horrors and we keep to the events of the series,” they added. 

Other fans have connected the theory to Ruth’s claim that workers mysteriously disappeared while attempting to build a trolley system.

“Ruth said that they tried to build a trolley and the workers disappeared?” one viewer noted. “Lured some workers from off island and sacrificed them.”

If this turns out to be true, it could be why the bells are ringing again so soon after the latest turn of events. And someone may need to step up if Tom’s not willing to sacrifice his own son. 

The church bells aren’t audible to all

Speaking of eerie bells and island protectors, since the release of the Widow’s Bay finale, it’s been theorised that the church bells are a supernatural warning sent by the entity – and only the chosen “council” can hear them. 

Firstly, episode one reveals that Tom, Rosemary (Dale Dickey), and Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) heard them, but Reverend Bryce (Toby Huss) didn’t – despite living on church grounds. He only begins to after discovering the documents left behind by his predecessor. 

“I don’t think that the church bells are physically ringing,” the Redditor wrote. “I think that is the form that the entity chose to alert the council about its hunger.”

“This might be because Rosemary, Patricia and Tom are 1) an official part of the ‘council’ even if they don’t know about it, and 2) have heard the stories about what the bells mean,” they added. 

As for why Evan hears them in the finale, it could be because of his role in accidentally serving up a sacrifice to the entity. 

“But why the church, with its tied-up bells, when the sirens were right there and available? Because the entity has positioned itself (or the islander’s council has positioned the entity) as its functional god,” they continued.  

“The videos that Dale finds talk of ‘offerings’, and despite their old-timey governmental nature they have a very religious ‘Flandery’ tone.

“The council even assigned the responsibility of starting the offering season to the priest. The church in Widow’s Bay is just a shell hiding the hungry monster inside, and I believe that it behaves just like the church in Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.”

Each Monster of the Week is hiding a secret

Widow’s Bay introduces a new supernatural threat almost every week, and they may all be connected in an intriguing way. 

According to one theory, each monster was once a real person who discovered the truth about the island and tried to stop the Warren bloodline before becoming a victim themselves.

“I have a theory that each of the monsters of the week that we see is an echo or a revenant of a person who found out about the curse as imperfectly as Tom and Bechir, and tried their best to off as many members of the Warren bloodline as possible,” said one fan.

“When they died (or were buried alive), they didn’t quite go (because now they are cursed and can’t leave, even for an afterlife), but they remained behind to warn the living and exact revenge on those who cursed him.”

The first piece of evidence comes from William the Clown, who warns Tom that “they will drag you down with them if they can.”

Could it be that William was literally dragged underground as a sacrifice before returning as a ghostly warning to others?

They also linked several of the monsters to stories scattered throughout the season. The Captain may be connected to a man who allegedly murdered his Warren wife and children, while the Sea Hag could be tied to the Warrens who drowned together.

“And finally, the Boogeyman,” they added. “What happened to him sounds a lot like what happened to Richard Warren – buried alive under a lot of cement.”

The pact was a truce, not a curse

Perhaps the biggest theory to emerge from the finale adds on to the idea that Richard Warren’s pact isn’t the source of the curse at all – instead, it’s keeping something much worse under control. 

One Redditor argued that the island was already supernatural before Warren struck his deal, and it’s tied to the black shrooms acting as part of a living organism buried beneath Widow’s Bay.

“The pact is actually a truce, not a curse,” they wrote, pointing to several clues, including the strange mould at the hotel, the mushrooms connected to visions throughout the season, and the tunnels beneath both the shelter and Warren property.

The supernatural element is that it has “superpowers” such as the ability to summon storms like we saw in the Widow’s Bay finale. 

“The ‘Creature’ that takes people if they go outside of the island’s perimeter is the fungus itself,” they wrote. 

“The thing uses its own flesh, aka the ‘black mushrooms’, to communicate with people, it’s how it got to Richard Warren, and asked for regular sacrifices in order to have a ‘truce’, and that’s why the sacrifices happen under the shelter – it’s where the fungus is.

“All of this means that, although the pact ‘stopped’ the evil stuff happening in the island, it doesn’t mean that ending the pact would end the curse. It will probably make it worse. The only way to end it is to ‘Kill’ the island.”

If true, season two’s biggest challenge may not be ending the pact or the curse – it’ll be how to end the island without sacrificing its entire population, Evan and all. 

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Featured images credit: Apple TV