Task Season 2 Is The Perfect Opportunity For A Major HBO Crossover

Behind "The Pitt," Mark Ruffalo-led crime drama "Task' ranks up as HBO Max's biggest breakout series of 2025. Sothat the series was expanded from a mini-series to a full-fledged second season. Ruffalo is confirmed to be returning as Pennsylvania FBI Agent Tom Brandis, but "Task" season 2 comes with a hurdle.

Since, again, "Task" was made as a mini-series, the finale was rather conclusive. The criminal case that drove the season's conflict — robberies/home invasions of drug houses used by a local biker gang — is over and done. Without getting into specific spoilers, let's just say that several "Task" season 1 cast members are off the table to return in season 2.

'Task" is in part a police procedural, though, so this hurdle should be easy for creator Brad Ingelsby to jump over. For "Task" season 2, just stick Brandis on a new case. He's still an FBI agent, and there's always going to be more crimes to bust. Give him a new task force to lead, and "Task" can run indefinitely as a semi-anthology; a rotating supporting cast and mystery anchored by Ruffalo as Brandis.

There's already an ideal candidate for Brandis' new task force: Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet), the star of Ingelsby's previous HBO crime drama, "Mare of Easttown." Ingelsby has confirmed that he sees "Task" and "Mare" as taking place in the same world, and it's easy to see them overlapping. Both shows are set in the Philly exurbs, both lead characters are grieving parent police officers, etc. "Task" and "Mare" could go together like cold water and a hot day. Ruffalo and Winslet didn't share scenes when they both appeared in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," but "Task" season 2 could bring them both into the spotlight.

Unlike "Task," which was renewed in quick turnaround for a second season, "Mare of Easttown" was left as a mini-series after its seven-episode run — but that might be changing soon. After previously saying back in 2024 that she'd not had any conversations for "Mare" season 2, Winslet recently told Deadline that the "Mare" season 2 conversations have started, and there is a "strong likelihood" that the season will shoot in 2027.

"They were proper conversations around a timeframe when ['Mare'] season 2 could be possible. And so I think we probably will do it, and that's the first time I've felt that," said Winslet. Compare this near-certainty to Winslet telling TVLine in 2021, shortly after "Mare" season 1 concluded, that "[She] would absolutely love to play Mare again," but hedging on if that chance would actually come.

"There's something very addictive about Mare, because she's so outrageous and lovable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her," Winslet said. Ingelsby told TV Line in 2021 that he'd only want to make a season 2 if he could come up with a story worthy of the first season. As he put it:

"We gave Mare such a personal arc where she had to confront this loss in her life, and we would have to construct another emotional arc that was able to compete with [that]."

Based on Winslet's comments to Deadline, it seems like the lightbulb may have finally gone off over Ingelsby's head, and he's found an "emotional arc" worthy of "Mare" season 1.

Ingelsby has not yet commented on "Mare of Easttown" season 2 shooting in 2027 or offered the slightest hint of what the story could be. However, it's possible that writing "Task," which again is such a similar show to "Mare" that they're set in the same world, helped spark ideas for Ingelsby about more stories for that world. If both "Mare" and "Task" are getting sophomore seasons, then the crossover doesn't even have to happen in "Task" season 2; maybe Tom could pop into Easttown for an episode.

Considering Ingelsby's stated view on making a "Mare" season 2, though, it sounds like he wouldn't do a "Mare" and "Task" crossover just for the novelty of it. He'd have to come up with a solid story to justify that crossover.

Both Mare and Tom spend their respective shows working through parental trauma. Mare's son Kevin died by suicide, and at the end of the season, she had to send her best friend Lori's (Julianne Nicholson) son Ryan (Cameron Mann) to jail for manslaughter. Tom's mentally ill son, Ethan (Andrew Russel), is facing prison for accidentally killing his mother during an argument. The two would definitely have things to bond over outside of police work.

Season 1 of "Mare of Easttown" and "Task" are both streaming on HBO Max. Neither "Mare of Easttown" season 2 nor "Task" season 2 has a confirmed release date at this time.