# Task (TV series)
**Task** is an American crime drama television series created by Brad Ingelsby for HBO, set in the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia, in which an FBI agent leads a task force against a string of violent robberies organized by a family man on the other side of the law[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/task/s01). It stars [Mark Ruffalo](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-ruffalo) as FBI agent Tom Brandis and [Tom Pelphrey](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-pelphrey) as Robbie Prendergrast, and its first season premiered on September 7, 2025, running for seven episodes[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo). It was Ingelsby's follow-up to his 2021 HBO limited series *Mare of Easttown* and returned to the same [Delaware County, Pennsylvania](https://www.edgepedia.org/delaware-county-pennsylvania) setting[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo). HBO renewed the series for a second season in November 2025[3](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-0/hbo-renews-original-drama-series-task-emmy-nominated-creator-brad-ingelsby-second).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created by | Brad Ingelsby, creator of *Mare of Easttown*, under a three-year exclusive deal with HBO[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html) |
| Premiere | September 7, 2025, on HBO and HBO Max; seven episodes in season 1[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo) • [5](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/) |
| Setting | Working-class suburbs and rural-suburban areas west of Philadelphia, mostly Delaware County, Pennsylvania[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/task/s01) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo) |
| Leads | Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, a former priest turned FBI agent; Tom Pelphrey as Robbie Prendergrast, a sanitation worker robbing drug houses[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html) • [5](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/) |
| Critical reception | 96% Tomatometer from 83 reviews and 78% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore of 77 from 34 critic reviews on Metacritic[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/task/s01) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/) |
| Renewal | Second season announced November 20, 2025; season 1 was among HBO's top three fastest growing debut seasons[3](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-0/hbo-renews-original-drama-series-task-emmy-nominated-creator-brad-ingelsby-second) |
## Premise and characters
The series follows two men on opposite sides of the law whose circumstances mirror each other. Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) is a former parish priest turned FBI agent who has been off active duty since his wife was killed by their son during a psychotic episode; his boss calls him back to lead a task force investigating a string of drug house robberies that have culminated in a suspected child abduction[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo). Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) is a sanitation worker and single father of two, living with his children and his niece Maeve ([Emilia Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/emilia-jones)) in his dead brother's house a year after his wife left[5](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo).
**The robberies.** Robbie and his best friend Cliff (Raúl Castillo), along with a third friend, rob trap houses (homes where drugs are sold and stored) belonging to the [Dark Hearts](https://www.edgepedia.org/dark-hearts), a biker gang that traffics fentanyl up and down the East Coast. The men wear [Halloween](https://www.edgepedia.org/halloween) masks to avoid recognition and brandish guns while trying to avoid violence, until a victim catches a glimpse of one assailant's face and the robberies turn deadly[5](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/) • [8](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/09/task-mark-ruffalo-tv-review/684233/).
The task force itself is deliberately unglamorous: it works out of a run-down house the FBI assigns as Tom's office, and its members include an unsure policewoman, an overqualified investigator with an unhappy past, and a young cunning officer, facing a tattooed biker gang with unlimited violence[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/08/task-sur-hbo-max-mark-ruffalo-en-agent-du-fbi-sur-les-traces-d-un-enfant-kidnappe_6640006_3246.html). Tom's supervisor Kathleen McGinty is played by [Martha Plimpton](https://www.edgepedia.org/martha-plimpton)[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/). The supporting cast also includes [Fabien Frankel](https://www.edgepedia.org/fabien-frankel) as Anthony Grasso, Alison Oliver as Elizabeth Stover, Thuso Mbedu as Aleah Clinton, Sam Keeley as Jayson Wilkes, and Jamie McShane as Perry Dorazo[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/).
## Creation and production
Brad Ingelsby, who wrote *Mare of Easttown*, signed a three-year exclusive deal with HBO after that series became a success[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html). *Mare of Easttown* earned 16 Emmy nominations, including two for Ingelsby as writer and executive producer, with a win for star [Kate Winslet](https://www.edgepedia.org/kate-winslet)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo). Like *Mare*, *Task* is set mostly in Delaware County, where Ingelsby grew up and has family; he has said he writes from detailed knowledge of the area's houses, streets, and speech[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo).
Ingelsby has described his method as building characters first and the plot afterward. Tom Brandis's backstory as an ex-chaplain who lost his faith drew on Ingelsby's own Catholic upbringing and an uncle who left the priesthood[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo) • [10](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/hbos-task-brad-ingelsby-on-writing-tension-character-and-the-art-of-tv-drama-how-the-mare-of-easttown-creator-crafted-his-latest-family-crime-series/). He told The Associated Press that the emotional core, including a victim impact statement scene, was among the earliest material written, with the plot built around it[11](https://apnews.com/article/e67f4465550e1aaac1dbf5f8618b6ceb). Where *Mare* centered women, *Task* inverts the dynamic, focusing on two middle-aged single fathers, a cop and a criminal, arranged symmetrically[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo) • [8](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/09/task-mark-ruffalo-tv-review/684233/).
## Reception
Critical response was strongly positive. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 96% Tomatometer from 83 reviews and a 78% Popcornmeter from more than 1,000 user ratings, with the critics consensus praising Ruffalo and Pelphrey as "superb" in "a culturally-specific crime story that's unrelentingly bleak but equally riveting"[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/task/s01). Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 77 based on 34 critic reviews, with 27 positive, 7 mixed, and none negative[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/).
Reviewers repeatedly connected the series to *Mare of Easttown*. [The Boston Globe](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-boston-globe)'s Chris Vognar called it "a master class" and praised both leads and the supporting cast[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/). Time's Judy Berman wrote that the series uses the detective-story format and the specificity of rural Pennsylvania to study guilt, revenge, and forgiveness, and noted that it opens not with a crime but with parallel domestic scenes of its two leads[5](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/). The Los Angeles Times described the show as centered on "two tenderhearted, tragic men"[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo). Some critics found the criminal plotline weaker than the character work: The Independent judged Robbie's dealings with the bikers and fentanyl dealers generic, while crediting the cast, including British and Irish actors Emilia Jones, Fabien Frankel, and [Alison Oliver](https://www.edgepedia.org/alison-oliver), with convincing American accents[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html).
## Second season
On November 20, 2025, Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, announced that *Task* had been renewed for a second season. HBO stated that season 1 was among its top three fastest growing debut seasons, and cited praise including GQ calling it "the show of the year" and [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wall-street-journal) describing it as "one of the year's best crime thrillers"[3](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-0/hbo-renews-original-drama-series-task-emmy-nominated-creator-brad-ingelsby-second).
Ingelsby told The Associated Press that the idea of a second season came from HBO, and that he entertained it because the cast and crew enjoyed working together; he had never previously made a second season of anything. The season 2 cast includes two-time Oscar winner [Mahershala Ali](https://www.edgepedia.org/mahershala-ali) as a DEA agent, with Martha Plimpton among the few returning cast members[11](https://apnews.com/article/e67f4465550e1aaac1dbf5f8618b6ceb).
## References
1. [Task: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/task/s01)
2. [Brad Ingelsby's Mare of Easttown Follow-Up Is Worth the Wait, Television Academy (emmy Magazine)](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/hbo-task-brad-ingelsby-mark-ruffalo)
3. [HBO Renews Original Drama Series TASK for a Second Season, WBD Pressroom](https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-0/hbo-renews-original-drama-series-task-emmy-nominated-creator-brad-ingelsby-second)
4. [Task review, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/task-cast-hbo-review-mark-ruffalo-martha-plimpton-b2822767.html)
5. [Task Is Another Excellent Crime Drama From the Creator of Mare of Easttown, Time](https://time.com/7311384/task-review-hbo/)
6. [Task review: A pair of tragic men anchor HBO's crime drama, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-09-06/task-review-mark-ruffalo-hbo)
7. [Task Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/task/)
8. [A Bleak World Without Women, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/09/task-mark-ruffalo-tv-review/684233/)
9. [« Task », sur HBO Max, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/08/task-sur-hbo-max-mark-ruffalo-en-agent-du-fbi-sur-les-traces-d-un-enfant-kidnappe_6640006_3246.html)
10. [HBO's Task: Brad Ingelsby on Writing Tension, Character, and the Art of TV Drama, Creative Screenwriting](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/hbos-task-brad-ingelsby-on-writing-tension-character-and-the-art-of-tv-drama-how-the-mare-of-easttown-creator-crafted-his-latest-family-crime-series/)
11. [Task master Brad Ingelsby put Ruffalo's redemption at center of HBO series from the start, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/e67f4465550e1aaac1dbf5f8618b6ceb)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Crime and thriller series › Police and detective procedurals*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license