Hamish Linklater On His “Little Haunted Island” Roles In ‘Midnight Mass’, ‘Widow’s Bay’: “You’ve Got To Defend Your Territory”

SPOILERS: This post contains details about the Widow’s Bay episodes ‘Our History’ and ‘Seasickness’

Fans of Hamish Linklater might have experienced a bit of déjà vu with this week’s double episode feature of Widow’s Bay.

The actor, who plays Richard Warren, admitted some similarities to his role in the 2021 Netflix limited series Midnight Massexplaining why he risked typecasting to play another “bad leader of a parish on a little fishing island” in the Apple TV+ series from Katie Dippold.

“You definitely worry that people will only think of you as a bad leader of a parish on a little fishing island,” he told Decider. “But then you start getting jealous, and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to see anybody else run a little haunted island better than me.’ So then you’ve got to defend your territory.”

From creator Mike Flanagan, Midnight Mass featured Linklater as Father Paul Hill, the new priest for the isolated Crockett Island, which soon becomes prey for an ancient vampire.

In the Widow’s Bay episode ‘Our History’, Linklater plays the titular island town’s 18th century founder, who makes a deal with a demon to protect his people through the winter, a deal that comes with supernatural consequences. More than 300 years later, he’s awaken in ‘Seasickness’ to help the town’s current Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) defeat the curse that has a hold on the island.

“If it hadn’t been Katie writing it, and Hiro Murai [director/EP] setting the tone for it, and Matthew Rhys — who’s the all star of all stars — then I would think twice, but the level of the show was so apparent that I ran towards it,” said Linklater. “Or I paddled towards it. One should never applaud a corporate entity, but way to go, Apple. Way to have faith in artists.”

Linklater explained that horror projects seem to be “drawn to me,” hence his sinister roles. “It sees something in me. The genre sees something in me that I am going to try to stay as blind to as long as I possibly can. I don’t know what’s going on. But if I get to work with wonderful people, I’ll take it,” he said.

New episodes of Widow’s Bay are available to stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+ with the Season 1 finale debuting June 17.