Task (miniseries)

Task is an American crime drama television series created and written by Brad Ingelsby for HBO. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Raúl Castillo, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Silvia Dionicio, and Martha Plimpton. It premiered on September 7, 2025, and will consist of 7 episodes.

Task
Promotional poster
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Brad Ingelsby
Starring	Mark Ruffalo Tom Pelphrey Emilia Jones Fabien Frankel Thuso Mbedu Raúl Castillo Alison Oliver Owen Teague Silvia Dionicio Martha Plimpton Jamie McShane Sam Keeley Phoebe Fox
Music by	Dan Deacon
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Brad Inglesby Mark Roybal Jeremiah Zagar Salli Richardson Whitfield Mark Ruffalo Ron Schmidt David Crockett Paul Lee
Producers	Gabrielle Mahon Holly Rymon
Production location	Pennsylvania
Cinematography	Alex Disenhof Elie Smolkin
Editors	Amy E. Duddelston Keiko Deguchi
Running time	60–66 minutes
Production companies	Low Dweller Productions Public Record wiip HBO Entertainment
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	September 7, 2025 (2025-09-07) – present

Premise

A Philadelphia-based FBI agent (Ruffalo) is put in charge of a task force to end a string of violent robberies undertaken by an unassuming family man (Pelphrey).^[1]

Cast

Main

• Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis,^[2] an FBI agent and former Catholic priest who is called in to head a task force investigating a series of armed robberies after taking time off from field duty due to a family tragedy
• Tom Pelphrey as Robbie Prendergrast,^[2] a garbage collector for J&W Sanitation who robs "trap houses" operated by drug gangs at night in the Philadelphia area
• Emilia Jones as Maeve,^[2] Robbie's 21-year-old niece who has been saddled with the raising of Robbie's young children since the departure of his wife almost a year earlier
• Fabien Frankel as Anthony Grasso,^[2] a Delaware County detective who joins the task force Tom sets up to investigate the robberies
• Thuso Mbedu as Aleah Clinton,^[2] a no-nonsense Chester detective sergeant who joins Tom's task force
• Raúl Castillo as Cliff Broward,^[2] Robbie's friend and co-worker who joins in the trap house robberies
• Alison Oliver as Lizzie Stover,^[2] an inexperienced PSP trooper on Tom's task force
• Owen Teague as Kenny 'Peaches' Pollard, Robbie and Cliff's accomplice in the trap house robberies
• Silvia Dionicio as Emily, Tom's adopted daughter and biological sister of Ethan, Tom's adopted son
• Martha Plimpton as Kathleen McGinty,^[2] an FBI supervisory senior resident agent and Tom's boss
• Jamie McShane as Perry 'Dizzy' Dorazo,^[3] one of the national leaders of the Dark Hearts motorcycle gang whose trap houses are the target of most of the robberies
• Sam Keeley as Jayson Wilkes,^[3] a volatile member of the Dark Hearts who heads their operations in Delaware County and is Perry's protegé
• Phoebe Fox as Sara, Tom’s biological daughter and adoptive sister to Emily and Ethan

Recurring

• Ben Doherty as Sam Nance, Deric's young son
• Oliver Eisenson as Wyatt Prendergrast, Robbie's son
• Kennedy Moyer as Harper Prendergrast, Robbie's daughter

Guest

• Isaach De Bankolé as Daniel Georges, a priest and Tom's friend
• Michael Maize as Deric Nance, a Dark Hearts member who runs one of the gang's trap houses in Delaware County
• Margarita Levieva as Eryn, Jayson's romantic partner who was previously involved with Robbie's brother Billy
• Raphael Sbarge as Michael Dorsey, the chief deputy of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office
• Mickey Sumner as Shelley Driscoll, the partner of Robbie and Cliff's friend Ray Lyman
• Brian Goodman as Vincent Hawkes, a senior national leader from the mother club of the Dark Hearts
• Elvis Nolasco as Freddy Frias, a Dominican drug kingpin in Philadelphia who does business with the Dark Hearts
• Colin Bates as Shane McReynolds, a mechanic and member of the Dark Hearts
• Coral Peña as Meg Coyle, a counsellor at Emily's school
• Mireille Enos as Susan Brandis, Tom's wife who was murdered by their adoptive son Ethan
• Jack Kesy as Billy Prendergast, Robbie's deceased brother and Maeve's father who was a member of the Dark Hearts and murdered by Jayson after discovering his affair with Eryn

In addition, Andrew Russel co-stars as Ethan, Tom's adopted son and Emily's biological brother, who is currently incarcerated for the murder of Susan, Tom's wife.

Episodes

No.	Title [4][5]	Directed by	Written by [6]	Original release date [7]	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Crossings"	Jeremiah Zagar	Brad Ingelsby	September 7, 2025 (2025-09-07)	0.214[8]
In Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Catholic priest turned FBI special agent Tom Brandis works recruitment as he prepares for the upcoming sentencing hearing for his adopted son, Ethan, who is pleading guilty to third degree homicide. He drinks heavily every night, a fact that is not lost on his teenage daughter, Emily, who is Ethan's sister. Meanwhile, Robbie Prendergrast lives in his late brother's home with his two young children. He has a tense relationship with his niece, Maeve, who has looked after them since Robbie's wife left months ago. Maeve feels that her obligations to them are preventing her from having a life of her own. He and his friend Cliff Broward use their employment as waste collectors to case "trap houses" operated by drug dealers as potential robbery targets. Robbie, Cliff, and friend Peaches conduct a home invasion and steal money from one such house. Tom is assigned to lead a task force consisting of State Trooper Lizzie Stover and detectives Aleah Clinton and Anthony Grasso; they are to investigate the robberies of houses used by the Dark Hearts, an outlaw motorcycle gang. Robbie, Cliff, and Peaches rob another house owned by Dark Hearts member Deric. The robbery goes wrong when another biker arrives at the house unexpectedly. A gunfight ensues, leaving the three bikers and Peaches dead. Robbie and Cliff discover Deric's young son, Sam, in the house and abduct him.
2	"Family Statements"	Jeremiah Zagar	Brad Ingelsby	September 14, 2025 (2025-09-14)	0.217[9]
Jayson, president of the Dark Hearts Delaware County chapter, learns of the fatal home invasion and vows retribution. Robbie and Cliff discover they have stolen a duffel bag of pure fentanyl from Deric's house. Robbie is forced to keep Sam at his home and tells Maeve he is the child of a friend from work. Maeve realizes the truth when Sam mentions the name of his father, Deric, a name she recognizes. Knowing the police are looking for Sam, she drops him at a store near the arcade where she works and makes an anonymous call to the FBI tip line. But rather than being picked up by police, Sam returns to her car. When Tom arrives in response to her call, Maeve purposely misleads him and returns home with Sam. As Tom's task force continues their investigation, his elder daughter Sara arrives for a visit and a family argument ensues over Emily's plan to give a family impact statement at Ethan's sentencing. It is revealed Ethan pushed their adoptive mother, Tom's wife Susan, down the stairs during a bipolar episode, accidentally killing her. Sara is infuriated by the idea that Emily's statement might persuade the judge to give Ethan a lighter sentence. Tom meets with fellow FBI agent Easley, who tells him that Jayson murdered a Dark Hearts member named Billy, Robbie's brother and Maeve's father.
3	"Nobody's Stronger Than Forgiveness"	Salli Richardson Whitfield	Brad Ingelsby	September 21, 2025 (2025-09-21)	0.259[10]
4	"All Roads"	Salli Richardson Whitfield	Teleplay by : Brad Ingelsby Story by : Brad Ingelsby & Dave Obzud	September 28, 2025 (2025-09-28)	TBD
5	"Vagrants"	TBA	Teleplay by : Brad Ingelsby Story by : Brad Ingelsby & Dave Obzud	October 5, 2025 (2025-10-05)	TBD
6	"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a river."	Salli Richardson Whitfield[11]	Teleplay by : Brad Ingelsby Story by : Brad Ingelsby & Dave Obzud	October 12, 2025 (2025-10-12)	TBD
7	"A Still Small Voice"	TBA	Brad Ingelsby	October 19, 2025 (2025-10-19)	TBD

Production

Development

In June 2023, it was announced HBO had greenlit the series, with Brad Ingelsby serving as creator and writer, and Jeremiah Zagar set to direct multiple episodes.^[12] In December 2023, it was announced Salli Richardson-Whitfield would also direct multiple episodes and serve as an executive producer.^[13] In November 2024, the series's title, Task, was announced.^[14]

Casting

After initial choice Michael Keaton had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts,^[15][16] Mark Ruffalo was announced in June 2023 to star in the series.^[12] In December 2023, Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Raúl Castillo, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Fabien Frankel and Alison Oliver joined the cast of the series.^{[17][18][19][20]} In March 2024, Owen Teague, Dominic Colón, Margarita Levieva, Raphael Sbarge, Mickey Sumner, Elvis Nolasco, Brian Goodman, Colin Bates, Isaach De Bankolé, Phoebe Fox, Silvia Dionicio and Coral Peña joined the cast in recurring roles.^[21][22][23] In November 2024, Martha Plimpton and Mireille Enos were announced as part of the cast.^[24]

Filming

Principal photography began in March 2024 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.^[25][26]

Broadcast

Task premiered on HBO on September 7, 2025.^[27]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating based on 75 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey are superb in Task, a culturally-specific crime story that's unrelentingly bleak but equally riveting."^[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 77 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable".^[29]