It was really striking to me, as someone who covers a whole heap of streaming trailers each and every week here at T3, that when Apple started to tease its massive new sci-fi hit Pluribus, it did so with just about the most patient and restrained teaser campaign I've seen in ages. For weeks and weeks, all we got were drip-fed micro-teasers showing the barest glimpses of scenes, without any real explanation of what was going on or what the show would be about.
Now, it looks like Apple might be taking that lesson forward, since Pluribus has debuted to the streaming service's highest ever viewership for a new show, and is a hit with critics and audiences alike. Maybe these super-restrained teasers, culminating in a still carefully-edited trailer just before the show launches, were part of its success?
Well, if so then brace yourself for another campaign, this time for next year's Widow's Bay.
The first teaser is incredibly short. It shows a local bar in New England shutting down, with people walking home and the lights turning off one by one. Then we see Matthew Rhys, the show's star, sitting at a dimly lit table looking more than a little haggard. That's it! That's all we get, other than the title card and confirmation that the show will start on 29 April 2026.
From the brief blurb Apple has published, though, we know that Rhys is probably playing the mayor of this town, Tom Loftis (not a disaffected barkeep), and that he's under the cosh trying to convince everyone else in the town that it's not cursed. That, again, is all we have to go on, but it's a pretty interesting premise.
The question now is how long we'll have to wait to get another look at the show, and how brief that glimpse will be, in turn. The way Pluribus was teased was almost infuriating, but there's no denying the efficacy of the campaign, and I wouldn't be against Apple taking a new approach and keeping the twists and plots of shows more secretive before they start.
After all, few things are more annoying than a big-budget trailer that runs you through the entire plot of a movie or show as it tries to win you over. It tends to do the reverse to me, so Widow's Bay definitely has my attention if only for avoiding that pitfall.
