Mark Ruffalo's Task Shares Its Universe With A Beloved HBO Crime Series

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Spoilers for episode 1 of "Task" to follow.

HBO's hot new show of the fall season appears to be "Task," based on the series premiere drawing 3.1 million viewers in its first three days (via Variety). The show stars Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, a former priest turned FBI agent. He's assigned to put together a task force to investigate armed robberies of drug houses in Pennsylvania. Brandis is also nursing some personal demons, though, from alcoholism to his son Ethan's (Andrew Russel) upcoming sentencing to prison. 

But this is no mystery series. "Task" splits its story between Brandis and the robbers led by Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey). Robbie is a garbage man living around the poverty line, and he's decided to make some money by robbing people who deserve it.

The show was created by Brad Ingelsby, who previously created the 2021 HBO crime/family drama miniseries "Mare of Easttown." That series stars Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a Pennsylvania detective who's dealing with her son's recent death by suicide and the murder of a young single mother named Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny).

With two Philadelphia-area detective dramas on his resume, has Ingelsby considered combining the two? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the creative was asked that very question and replied, "I think there were still more stories to be told about people in Delaware County. They exist in the same world, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Mare walked into a Wawa that Tom was in."

Now, in our shared universe obsessed pop culture, it's easy to leap on Ingelsby's comments as hard proof of continuity between the shows. (Can you say Mare-vel Cinematic Universe?) But let's not jump the gun.

When Ingelsby says the shows "exist in the same world," he might just be saying how both "Task" and "Mare of Easttown" take place in the rural Philly suburbs of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, i.e. the stories and characters can fit together because they have an overlapping setting. Indeed, he quickly clarified to THR, "I don't have a story in mind that's a crossover, but I love the idea of their worlds intersecting."

"Mare of Easttown" was widely acclaimed when it originally aired, and it still maintains a reputation as one of the best HBO miniseries. It's no surprise that HBO wrote a check for Ingelsby to make a similar series with "Task," hoping lightning would strike twice.

But while "Mare" was announced and made as a miniseries, there's been a persistent push for a second season. As of 2024, Winslet said she hasn't heard anything from HBO about it, and Mare's character arc is definitely complete by the end of season 1. (The final shot of the series is her going into the attic where her son died, implying that she's finally at peace with his death.) The thing about detective characters, though, is it's very easy to write sequels for them; you just have to put them onto a new case. Perhaps, for "Mare" season 2, a case that requires some assistance from a local FBI agent?

While Ingelsby is apparently writing "Task" as if it takes place in the same world as "Mare," to me it doesn't sound like this is him planting the seeds for the shows' characters to meet. Some writers just write their stories as if they exist in the same world because the stories are all their stories. Take Quentin Tarantino, who feels (most of) his movies take place in the same universe, even if he never got around to pairing up the Vega brothers Vic (Michael Madsen) and Vincent (John Travolta).

Personally, Ingelsby's comment about Tom and Mare meeting in a supermarket makes me think of author S.A Cosby, who writes crime thriller novels that all take place in rural Virginia and are of a similar storytelling flavor as Ingelsby's Philly crime miniseries. His latest book, "King of Ashes," features a brief cameo by the lead of one of his previous novels, "Razorblade Tears." All of Cosby's books feel they could exist in the same world, and it now seems, in his mind, they do indeed.

Ingelsby's comments to THR, and the fact that he made "Task" at all instead of "Mare" season 2, tells me he's most likely to next make a third new HBO mini-series about Delaware County — and maybe have Mare and/or Tom pop up in a cameo there.

"Task" airs on HBO and is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes dropping every Sunday up to October 19, 2025.