I’ve worked my way through a ton of shows, but one has quietly crept to the very top of my list.
And it’s no surprise that HBO’s Task is coming back for a second season because it feels perfectly deserved.
Once you’ve spent a few hours watching Mark Ruffalo thread his way through the rougher corners of Philadelphia, it’s hard to walk away.
(HBO/Peter Kramer)
A lot of that comes down to Brad Ingelsby, who knows exactly how to build this kind of world without overplaying it.
And look, I’d happily take a second season without question. But the more I think about it, the more I can’t escape this idea I’ve got.
Because as good as another season sounds, there’s a crossover angle here that could be even more interesting if they’re bold enough to go for it.
Imagine Mare Of Easttown And Task Colliding: Kate Winslet And Mark Ruffalo Face Off
If you’ve followed Brad Ingelsby, you can probably see where my brain is going with this.
Before Task pulled me in, he gave us Mare of Easttown, and that show has been living rent-free in my head ever since.
On Mare of Easttown Season 1 Episode 6, after a heroic rescue lands her in the hospital, Mare awakes to the pain of losing a friend and reevaluates old suspects. (HBO/Michele K. Short)
Seven episodes, that’s all it took, and Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan was mind-blowing.
The story digs into the murder of a teenage mother, but what really stays with you is Mare herself, how worn down she is, how stubborn, how human.
And, it hit a nerve. Winslet walked away with an Emmy, and so did Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson.
Needless to say, that kind of sweep doesn’t happen by accident. I’ve been hoping, maybe a little stubbornly, that we’d get a second season someday.
(HBO/Peter Kramer)
But after getting lost in Task, my brain’s gone in a completely different direction, and I can’t really unsee it now. A crossover just makes sense!
Why? Well, both stories carry Pennsylvania in their bones, from setting to atmosphere.
The accents, the neighborhoods, the way every character feels like they’ve lived there their whole life.
There’s a grit to both shows that you can’t fake, and neither one tries to clean it up. They’re also, at their core, about people chasing the truth through messy, complicated cases.
So bringing those worlds together would feel natural, at least for me.
(HBO/Michele K. Short)
And then there’s the part I can’t stop thinking about: Mare and Tom Brandis in the same room.
Mark Ruffalo plays Brandis with this controlled, methodical energy, while Mare operates more on instinct, pushing and prodding until something cracks.
They’d absolutely get under each other’s skin. You can already hear the arguments.
But at the same time, you know they’d respect each other when it counts.
Is A Mare Of Easttown And Task Crossover Possible? Here’s The Latest
The chances of a Task and Mare of Easttown crossover? I won’t sugarcoat it that they’re probably slim.
(HBO/Peter Kramer)
Seeing the main players from Mare meet Ruffalo’s Task squad might feel like chasing lightning in a bottle.
Regardless, I’m holding onto hope because Brad Ingelsby isn’t dismissing the idea.
Speaking to THR, he admitted he “[doesn’t] have a story in mind that’s a crossover,” but he does “love the idea of their worlds intersecting.”
That little nugget alone is enough to make any fan’s imagination run wild. Meanwhile, fans are still itching for another season of Mare of Easttown.
Back in 2021, Kate Winslet told EW that some Season 2 ideas had been floated, but she wasn’t sure she could summon the emotional energy to slip back into Mare’s shoes.
(HBO/Michele K. Short)
And Casey Bloys sounded cautiously optimistic in 2022 (via Deadline). He didn’t commit, but he seemed open if a story emerged and everyone’s schedules aligned:
“I don’t know, honestly, if it’s going to be the kind of thing that they go off and do another project, and then when schedules align, maybe they come back. It’s really kind of up in the air and really up to them.”
Considering Ingelsby’s habit of not dwelling on the past, he might not even be thinking about a second season of Task yet.
But I’m religiously hopeful that someday Tom Brandis and Mare will share a cup of coffee in the same Wawa.
Wouldn’t that be a scene worth pausing your snack for?
Drop your hot takes in the comments below!
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Could Mare of Easttown and Task collide? Explore why a Kate Winslet-Mark Ruffalo crossover makes perfect sense for HBO fans.
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Task Season 1 Episode 2 ditches the slow start for high-stakes tension, fractured families, and choices that drag everyone deeper into danger.
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HBO’s Task starts slow with heavy-handed parallels, but Ruffalo and Pelphrey elevate a bloated premiere into a promising cat-and-mouse thriller.
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