TASK is NOT Mare of Easttown Season 2

[samhexum]

Mare of Easttown‘s creator is returning to HBO… but he’s not bringing Kate Winslet with him this time.

Brad Ingelsby, who wrote and created the Emmy-winning Mare, is back with a new Pennsylvania-set crime drama, Task, airing next year on HBO and starring Mark Ruffalo as a veteran FBI agent leading a task force that investigates a heist gone wrong. But since Mare was so popular and acclaimed, why didn’t he just make a Season 2?

“We talked about” doing a second season of Mare, Ingelsby told reporters at an HBO event on Tuesday, but “Mare’s journey in that show was so emotional… I always like to tell stories that are really emotional, and it’s hard to come up with an emotional story that could compete with losing a son and having to confront that.”

But then he came up with the idea for Task, “and it felt like it lives in the same world as Mare. It’s in the same part of that world, but it’s a much different story. And I was kind of, at that time, more interested in doing something different and new that can also speak to the same type of world that Marelived in.” (He added that Task’s story was never considered as a potential Season 2 of Mare.) 

Ingelsby isn’t completely shutting the door on more Mare down the road, though. He’s “always open to revisiting Mare” down the line “if we could craft a story as compelling as the first one.”

Mare was billed as a limited series when it debuted in 2021, but it was a big hit and scored four Emmy wins, which naturally led to speculation about a possible Season 2. “If we can crack a story that is as great [as Season 1] and that would do justice to the characters and carry on the story in a way that was organic and yet surprising, I would love to do it,” Ingelsby told TVLine at the time. “I just don’t know what the story is. That’s the issue right now.”

Along with Ruffalo, Task’s cast includes Tom Pelphrey (Ozark), Raúl Castillo (Looking), Emilia Jones (Locke & Key), Alison Oliver (Conversations With Friends), Fabien Frankel (House of the Dragon), Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad) and Martha Plimpton (Raising Hope). 
 

[samhexum]

Mark Ruffalo is taking criminals to task this fall on HBO.

The network on Thursday released the first trailer for Task, the forthcoming drama created by Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown), which premieres in September. 

The series is “set in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia,” where Tom (Ruffalo), an FBI agent, “heads a task force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey),” according to the official logline.

 

Edited May 15 by samhexum
because you people mean so much to him that he always wants to give you his best

[samhexum]

Dave Nemetz Reviews Task: HBO Delivers Another Beautifully Tragic Crime Drama From Mare of Easttown’s Creator

TVLINE.COM

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Review: 'Mare of Easttown's' creator has crafted another riveting crime drama in 'Task,' packed with...

 

[samhexum]

'So smart, such good storytelling': Actress Martha Plimpton on the new show 'Task'

APPLE.NEWS

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Award-winning actress Martha Plimpton joins Morning Joe to discuss the new HBO show 'Task'.

 

[+ MikeThomas]

A little off topic, but the Mare topic is closed.  Just watched it.  What a depressingly sad show… but very well done  

[samhexum]

I watched the first two episodes (they drop weekly).  I want to like it but it's sooooooooooo sloooooooooow

[samhexum]

Episode three was faster-paced and I enjoyed it a lot.

[+ SirBillybob]

State trooper ‘Snickerdoodle’ Lizzie was Venetia in Saltburn. Quite a contrast. 

Edited September 23 by SirBillybob

[samhexum]

On 9/23/2025 at 6:39 PM, SirBillybob said:

State trooper ‘Snickerdoodle’ Lizzie was Venetia in Saltburn. Quite a contrast. 

I watched the post-episode stuff tonight.  A lot of the cast is foreign-born.

[+ SirBillybob]

12 hours ago, samhexum said:

I watched the post-episode stuff tonight.  A lot of the cast is foreign-born.

But could Ser Criston be a turncoat?😏

Edited Monday at 04:38 PM by SirBillybob

[+ MikeThomas]

I'm liking Task more with each episode.  I just fast forward through the violent parts ... so I can watch an hour long episode in 30 minutes.

[Wings246]

I feel like it's essentially a "family drama" disguised as a crime/mystery series, depending on how you define family.  Regardless, all of the families depicted in the show are seriously f up and dysfunctional.

On 9/18/2025 at 10:27 AM, samhexum said:

I want to like it but it's sooooooooooo sloooooooooow

I cannot agree more.  I have to keep convincing myself that something important will subtly pops up, so pay attention, pay attention, pay attention.  I am waiting and waiting, but nothing too mind-blowing ever happens, which is a major letdown.  I don't even find the big reveal of Mark Ruffalo's family catastrophe that overwhelmingly shocking, although I have to commend the performances of the actors & actresses.

There is an unshakable air of loss and depression in every character and every scene.  The characters are also written with tons of emotional detachments.  It's very tough for me to relate to or feel for their tragedies.

Anyway, there will only be 2 more episodes (7 episodes total).  I can and will invest 2 more hours of my life into seeing how the story ends.

Edited 15 hours ago by Wings246