Most days, Diann Slavit Baylis can be found practicing immigration law or speaking with voters on the campaign trail during her run for Governor’s Council. But every so often, she trades the courtroom for a movie set.
In June 2025, that took the longtime Marblehead resident to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, where she spent the day watching actor Matthew Rhys fend off an attack from a terrifying sea hag in an episode of the Apple TV series “Widow’s Bay.”
Slavit Baylis appears as an extra in Season 1, Episode 3 of “Widow’s Bay,” which aired in early May. The horror-comedy series recently was renewed for a second season and received 19 Emmy Award nominations. Filmed around the North Shore, including Gloucester and Rockport, the show follows the mayor of an island off the New England coast as he tries to break a centuries-old curse to boost the town’s tourism industry.
The opportunity to appear as an extra in the third episode gave Slavit Baylis a chance to step into a world far removed from immigration law and politics.
“Everything is just so serious with the immigration law office and the campaign,” she said. “So it’s just so fun to do something like that. Everything can’t be serious. You have to shake it up a little.”
She was among a group of extras assembled for the mayor’s ceremonial beach swim, in which Rhys’ character swims out to a buoy to reopen the town beach and prove there are no monsters in the water.
There are, in fact, many monsters in the water — and everywhere else, for that matter.
Unbeknownst to the mayor, a frightening sea hag lurks beneath the surface, ready to strike and chase him back to shore. As the nervous mayor walks toward the water, Slavit Baylis can be seen just a few feet to his right. When the episode premiered, she got the chance to spot herself on screen in what quickly became one of her favorite shows.
“It was so exciting because I love acting, and this show interested me from the start,” said Slavit Baylis. “It was great to be a small part of something that is getting so much viewer interest, including Emmy nominations.”
Slavit Baylis also got a chance to see how the frightening on-screen moments were created and to get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the year’s most popular shows.
“We spent like an hour watching Matthew Rhys drowning again and again,” Slavit Baylis said with a laugh. “I thought it was so much fun. But my favorite thing was watching the scary thing they’re trying to make happen, and being behind the scenes and seeing what really happens.”
This was not Slavit Baylis’ first time on a film set. She has appeared as an extra in several productions, including the 2009 film “The Proposal,” which filmed at Beverly Airport.
She also was selected to participate in the 2020 PBS Boston reality series “Divided We Fall,” in which a dozen liberals and conservatives spent a weekend together in western Massachusetts learning to understand one another’s perspectives. The filmmakers aimed to show how people with different political views can have productive conversations.
“We were really interested in the same stuff, like family and friends and community, but we just have different ways of going about it,” said Slavit Baylis. “Now I’m actually still friends with some of the people on the show, even the Trumpers.”
As her campaign to unseat the incumbent and represent Massachusetts’ 6th Governor’s Council District enters its final stretch, Slavit Baylis is spending much of her time shaking hands at events throughout the district and speaking with as many voters as possible.
“I just like being in the community because I want to be that approachable candidate,” said Slavit Baylis.
But she also hopes to return to the set of “Widow’s Bay” someday — and perhaps earn a little more screen time on her favorite show.
