November 21, 2025
Peter Kramer HBO/for PhillyVoice
HBO renewed 'Task' for a second season and fans of Brad Ingelsby's Delco crime drama will now have to wait to see what direction the show will go. Two of Season 1's central characters, FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and Maeve (Emilia Jones), figure to be central to the story's development.
HBO's decision to green-light a second season of "Task" opens up a floodgate of questions about where creator Brad Ingelsby will take his Delco crime drama when the show returns.
By the end of Season 1, multiple characters who played central roles in the plot were casualties in a triangle of violence between the Dark Hearts motorcycle gang, drug thief Robbie Prendergrast and an FBI task force corrupted by rogue detective Anthony Grasso. All we know about Season 2's cast so far is that Mark Ruffalo will return in his lead role as FBI agent Tom Brandis.
"We have no doubt (Ingelsby) will strike as profoundly and addictively once again in Season 2," Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming, said during the network's press presentation Thursday.
Here are four burning questions and potential threads where "Task" might pick up the pieces in Season 2:
For much of Season 1, Robbie's drive to steal drugs from the Dark Hearts was posed as vengeance for gang leader Jayson's past murder of his older brother, Billy, a former Dark Heart and the father of Robbie's niece, Maeve. As Robbie's life spirals, 21-year-old Maeve steps up as the primary caretaker of Robbie's two kids, Harper and Wyatt.
As much as Robbie was motivated by blind rage, accidentally stumbling onto a motherlode of fentanyl during the botched robbery in Season 1 gave him a path of sacrifice for his family. Converting the drugs into cash — even at the cost of his own life and Cliff's — meant a chance at a better life for Maeve and the kids.
But that's a lot of dirty money. And it would not look good for Tom if it came to light that he turned a blind eye to the stacks of cash in Maeve's backpack after the shootout that killed Jayson outside her home in the season finale. The Dark Hearts spilled a lot of blood to come up empty-handed on that stash.
For all her maturity, Maeve is young and faces a serious bind to use the money wisely while protecting herself and the kids. Could they end up in witness protection? Will the Dark Hearts come after her? Will she leave Delco behind?
And what is Robbie's imprint on the show moving forward? Season 1 had flashbacks featuring Billy. Could Tom Pelphrey rejoin the cast as a figure from the past?
"Look, all I'll say about Brad is, if he ever f--king wants me, he can just call me up and tell me where and when," Pelphrey told PhillyVoice at a September press event before the show's premiere.
Anthony Grasso is arguably the show's most complicated character. He's a dirty cop who colluded with a gang to get drug money that would help him put his mother into a better nursing home and buy a house for his sister. He was romantically tied up with task force colleague Lizzie Stover — and championed her abilities — but he recklessly created the circumstances that led to her death. He also fired the shot that saved Maeve from Jayson.
Grasso is staring down some serious charges. One of his superiors at the county detective's office, who also collaborated with the Dark Hearts and may have put Grasso up to it, was killed by the gang toward the end of Season 1. Maybe prosecutors will cut Grasso a deal to cooperate in that investigation, or maybe the scandal will be guarded from exposure, but regardless, his future as a cop looks to be toast.
For that matter, he's made a serious enemy of task force colleague Aleah Clinton, a Chester detective whose own career and safety were compromised by Grasso's actions.
Will Tom continue to have a relationship with Grasso? Despite their bad blood at the end of Season 1, Tom seemed to have a soft spot for Grasso and was endeared by his interest in questions of faith. Could Tom, the former priest, choose forgiveness?
At the start of Season 1, Tom was on a light assignment as an FBI recruiter before getting roped onto the task force by his boss, Kathleen McGinty, who's been forced into early retirement. Tom's passion as an investigator seemed sapped by the trauma of losing his wife, Susan, who was killed by his adopted son, Ethan.
One of Ingelsby's strengths is finding ways to weave domestic life into stories that are propelled by the suspense of criminal activity. Some type of high-stakes situation likely will emerge and call on Brandis in Season 2, but how will his home life change?
In court, Tom gives a powerful statement forgiving Ethan and promising to welcome him home, but we don't learn how soon Ethan will be eligible for parole. Transitioning back to family life in the home where he killed his mom — with or without forgiveness from Tom, Emily and Sara — will be difficult for a young man with his mental health history. Emily is nearing college-age and Sara, who's going through a divorce, is at a low point at the end of Season 1.
Tom has already shrugged off any interest in Kathleen's open position at the FBI, so who will be his new boss? And with his hands full at home, does Tom still have it in him to hunt down criminals? Or is he still sneaking liquor into his Phillies cup?
Fans of "Task" will undoubtedly be watching closely for casting information as Season 2's development begins.
The biggest name to watch will obviously be Kate Winslet. She and Ingelsby will forever be asked whether her role as a detective in "Mare of Easttown" will be reprised, and they've both said they have open minds about it if there's a story that truly merits taking the creative risk. After years of speculation about a second season of "Mare," it's notable how quickly HBO pounced on renewing "Task."
Any role Mare could play is pure conjecture, but maybe she moves on from the Easttown Police Department, or another crime in that community hits the FBI's radar. Delco is a small world, and cops crossing paths is plenty plausible. The issue is whether Mare's energy would add to or eclipse the story Ingelsby wants to tell about Tom.
At the "Task" press preview in September, Ingelsby made clear that questions of faith were inseparable from Tom's character, including his painful choice to turn Sam, the kidnapped boy, over to his new adoptive parents instead of becoming his father.
"I think Tom's a guy that is asking himself in the story, 'Why does suffering exist if God is so all-merciful? How could he allow this thing to happen?'" Ingelsby said. "... In the story, he's on a faith journey, and I don't think he arrives at the end and goes, 'I'm going go kneel before the alter.' No, he doesn't. That's not what his faith journey is. It's a belief that, 'I can give the kid up and he's going to be OK,' and that, to me, is enough of a step in the right direction."
It's a good bet that Tom's moral compass and spiritual resolve will continue to be tested as a focal point of Season 2, and maybe Mare's own traumatic experiences could be the catalyst for that beyond the realm of fanfic pipe dreams.
