What To Know
- Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Emmy-winning Mare of Easttown role in Task Season 2.
- Both series are set in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and created by Brad Ingelsby, who previously hinted at a potential crossover.
- Task, starring Mark Ruffalo and recently nominated for six Emmys, will return for a second season on HBO, with additional new cast members including Mahershala Ali.
Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby previously told TV Insider he was interested in having his Emmy-winning HBO drama cross over with his now Emmy-nominated series Task. Now, that crossover is official. Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Mare of Easttown role in Task Season 2.
Nicholson won an Emmy for her performance as mother-of-three Lori Ross in Mare of Easttown, which aired from April to May 2021 and starred Kate Winslet, Evan Peters, and Jean Smart. The crime drama was set in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, also known as Delco, where Task is also set. Mare of Easttown and Task weren’t explicitly narratively connected before, but the new crossover brings the stories together.
The exact details of Nicholson’s role in Task have not been revealed. Her casting in Task Season 2 was first reported by Variety.
Task stars Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent who leads a task force in a Philadelphia suburb to put an end to a string of drug-house robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. The Task Season 2 logline says, “Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) takes the helm of a new task force, but the deeper the operation runs, the harder it is to tell who’s the target.”
Ingelsby told TV Insider in 2025 that he was open to the idea of a Task and Mare of Easttown crossover, but it couldn’t be a “gimmick.”
“I think if there’s a natural way to do it, I don’t see a reason why not,” Ingelsby said. “It would have to pay off in a way that I found [satisfying]… I wouldn’t want it to be a gimmick. I would want it to be really organic. So if there was an organic way in, I would embrace it.”
“I’m always thinking. That’s the curse. I’m always thinking, I can’t turn it off, unfortunately… I love living in this world. I grew up in this place,” he added. “As long as audiences want to hear stories about Delaware County, I’ll be here to tell them.”
Task Season 1 also stars Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Raúl Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox, and Martha Plimpton. Mahershala Ali has joined the Season 2 cast, along with Harry Melling, Adam Nagaitis, and Aminah Nieves.
Task received six Emmy nominations on July 8, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Ruffalo.
Task, Season 2 Premiere, TBA, HBO, Streaming on HBO Max