Created by Brad Ingelsby.
Task (2025) was released in the United States on September 7, 2025.
Distributed by HBO (for streaming on HBO Max and HBO channels).
Series Review
Task (2025) is a dark and emotional crime drama that tells the story of how desperate choices can lead to tragedy.
Mark Ruffalo plays Tom Brandis, a former priest who is now an FBI agent trying to catch criminals while dealing with his own past.
Tom Pelphrey plays Robbie, a man caught in a world of crime and bad luck.
Season 1 focuses on a series of robberies that connect the lives of the police, criminals, and victims.
The show is slow at times, but the acting is powerful and the story feels real and emotional.
It shows how people can lose their way and still try to find hope.
Task is not an easy watch, but it is meaningful, thought-provoking, and full of strong performances that stay with you long after the credits roll.
Ratings
• IMDb: 7.9/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
• Google Audience Score: 64% liked this TV show.
Task (2025) Actors
Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis
DOB: November 22, 1967.
Bio: American actor, producer, and activist whose career has spanned stage, independent film, television, and major studio blockbusters.
Known for his naturalistic, emotionally layered performances, he frequently portrays characters wrestling with moral dilemmas and deep vulnerabilities.
Role: Tom Brandis is a former priest turned FBI agent, burdened by personal grief and a crisis of faith.
Tasked with leading a federal task force investigating a spree of violent “trap-house” robberies, he is haunted, self-critical, and searching for redemption.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: A layered central performance mixing brittle anger, weary humour and sudden tenderness; Ruffalo gives the show its moral core.
Interesting facts: Ruffalo took over the role after early reports linked Michael Keaton to the project.
He also serves as an executive producer, helping to shape the series’ creative direction.
Notable Works: Spotlight (Oscar-winning ensemble), I Know This Much Is True (Emmy Award for Lead Actor), Foxcatcher, Shutter Island.
Tom Pelphrey as Robbie Prendergrast
DOB: July 28, 1982.
Bio: American actor widely praised for his emotionally charged, physically committed performances across television, film, and stage.
A two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner, he has earned acclaim for playing volatile, morally complex characters and infusing them with humanity and depth.
Role: Robbie Prendergrast is an outwardly ordinary garbage collector and devoted family man who secretly funds his household by robbing drug houses at night.
His double life places him at the center of the FBI investigation led by Tom Brandis.
Episodes: 6 eps.
What to Expect: A raw, physical performance that shifts between tenderness and menace; Pelphrey makes Robbie sympathetic without apologizing for his actions.
Interesting facts: Pelphrey’s role as Robbie was highlighted as a key driver of the series’ tension and moral grayness.
His ability to portray characters living double lives made him a standout choice for the part.
Notable Works: Ozark, Banshee, A Man in Full.
Emilia Jones as Maeve
DOB: February 23, 2002.
Bio: English actress and singer who gained international recognition for her breakout lead role in CODA (2021), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Beginning her career as a child actor on stage and screen, she has steadily built a reputation for portraying complex, emotionally layered young women.
Role: Maeve is Robbie Prendergrast’s 21-year-old niece, who has taken on the responsibility of raising his children.
Her character embodies resilience, selflessness, and the weight of premature adulthood.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: Quiet, heartbreaking scenes and a performance that lends the series its family stakes.
Interesting facts: Jones was cast to give the series a younger but equally commanding emotional presence, balancing the intensity of the male leads.
She has spoken in past interviews about her interest in roles that show resilience and emotional truth.
Notable Works: CODA, Locke & Key, Brimstone, Horrible Histories.
Fabien Frankel as Anthony Grasso
DOB: April 6, 1994.
Bio: London-born actor of English and French descent who trained at both the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
He gained international recognition for his breakout role as Ser Criston Cole in HBO’s House of the Dragon (2022).
Role: Anthony Grasso is a Delaware County detective assigned to the task force investigating the violent robberies.
Frankel plays him as competent, disciplined, and quietly ambitious, often in friction with Tom Brandis’s (Mark Ruffalo) unpredictable methods.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: A poised, procedural performance that supplies the series’ police procedural muscle.
Interesting facts: Frankel’s casting continued his transition from fantasy TV into grounded crime drama.
Notable Works: House of the Dragon, The Serpent, NYPD Blue (2019 pilot).
Thuso Mbedu as Aleah
DOB: July 8, 1991.
Bio: South African actress who trained at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.
She first rose to prominence in South Africa with acclaimed performances in local dramas such as Is’Thunzi before gaining international recognition with Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad (2021).
Role: Aleah is a Chester detective sergeant who becomes an integral part of the task force investigating the violent robberies.
With her local knowledge, sharp instincts, and moral clarity, Aleah often finds herself as the bridge between the community and the federal authorities.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: Powerful, grounded scenes of police procedure and emotional friction with federal oversight.
Interesting facts: Mbedu is the first South African actress in decades to lead a major American television series (The Underground Railroad).
Notable Works: Is’Thunzi, The Underground Railroad, The Woman King.
Raúl Castillo as Cliff Broward
DOB: August 30, 1977.
Bio: American actor and playwright born in McAllen, Texas.
A graduate of Boston University’s School of Theatre, he began his career in the New York stage scene before moving into film and television.
Role: Cliff Broward is Robbie’s longtime friend and co-worker on the sanitation crew who becomes drawn into the string of trap-house robberies.
Castillo plays him as loyal and sympathetic but deeply flawed, a man driven into crime by economic desperation and the need to belong.
Episodes: 5 eps.
What to Expect: Richly textured scenes that explore friendship, loyalty and the economic pressures behind petty crime.
Interesting facts: Beyond acting, Castillo is also an accomplished playwright; his plays often center on themes of identity and working-class life, which resonate with his screen roles.
Notable Works: Looking, We the Animals, Army of the Dead, Cha Cha Real Smooth.
Alison Oliver as Lizzie/Elizabeth Stover
DOB: June 3, 1997.
Bio: Irish actor born in Cork.
A graduate of The Lir Academy in Dublin, she made her screen debut as the lead in Conversations with Friends (Hulu/BBC), which earned her critical acclaim and placed her on several rising talent lists.
Role: Lizzie is a newly minted Pennsylvania State Police trooper brought onto Brandis’s task force.
Initially eager and idealistic, she quickly faces the moral ambiguity and dangers of violent fieldwork.
Episodes: 6 eps.
What to Expect: A layered coming-of-age in police procedural form, showing how idealism is strained by real danger.
Interesting facts: Oliver’s casting expands the show’s younger, less jaded perspective within the task force.
Notable Works: Conversations with Friends, Saltburn, Best Interests (BBC).
Owen Teague as Peaches
DOB: December 8, 1998.
Bio: American actor from Tampa, Florida.
He began acting in local theater before moving into television and film, quickly becoming a recognizable face in horror and drama.
Role: Peaches is the young accomplice to Robbie and Cliff in the trap-house robberies.
Teague’s Peaches is volatile and impulsive, a wild card whose choices escalate the series’ tension.
Episodes: 1 eps.
What to Expect: High-tension scenes that reveal how youthful recklessness can fuel tragedy.
Interesting facts: Teague has been steadily building toward leading-man status. In 2024, he starred in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, marking his highest-profile role to date.
Notable Works: It (chapter roles), The Stand, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Silvia Dionicio as Emily Brandis
DOB: June 18, 1997.
Bio: Silvia Dionicio is an actress who plays members of Brandis’s adoptive family on the series.
She brings a quiet domestic realism that contrasts the show’s street violence.
Role: Emily Brandis is Tom Brandis’s adopted daughter.
Her presence at home provides a tender, domestic counterpoint to Brandis’s grief and haunted past, emphasizing the stakes of his return to active field work.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: Grounded, intimate scenes that add emotional texture to Brandis’s storyline.
Interesting facts: The show deliberately uses Brandis’s family life as a narrative counterweight, contrasting the task force’s violent cases with the fragility of his home life.
Notable Works: Discarded Things, The Freedom of Mir.
Martha Plimpton as Kathleen McGinty
DOB: November 16, 1970.
Bio: American actress and singer with a career spanning film, television, and stage.
A three-time Tony Award nominee and Emmy winner, she is known for her versatility and sharp, intelligent performances.
Role: Kathleen McGinty is Tom Brandis’s superior and the bureaucratic hub of the task force.
As a leader caught between politics, institutional pressures, and the fallout from violent robberies, McGinty is both a stabilizing force and a source of friction.
Episodes: 6 eps.
What to Expect: Scenes that show the institutional pressures on Brandis’s task force and the bureaucratic constraints of justice.
Interesting facts: Plimpton’s presence strengthens the show’s portrayal of institutional bureaucracy and ethics.
Notable Works: The Goonies, Parenthood, Raising Hope, Mass (2021).
Jamie McShane as Perry
DOB: July 22, 1966.
Bio: American actor best known for his work in gritty dramas and crime thrillers.
A versatile character actor, he has built a career playing lawmen, criminals, and hardened figures who bring authenticity to tense stories.
Role: Perry is a national leader in the Dark Hearts motorcycle gang whose trap houses figure into the robberies.
McShane’s Perry is frighteningly pragmatic and sometimes chillingly regretful in his violence.
Episodes: 6 eps.
What to Expect: Cold, menacing scenes that reveal how organized crime and violence operate at a human level.
Interesting facts: Episode 5 features a controversial and much-discussed sequence involving Perry that highlights the show’s uncompromising tone.
Notable Works: Sons of Anarchy, Southland, Bloodline, CSI: Vegas, The Lincoln Lawyer.
Sam Keeley as Jayson
DOB: November 29, 1990.
Bio: Sam Keeley is an Irish actor known for intense, often volatile supporting performances in film and TV.
He specializes in characters that are dangerous but human.
Role: Jayson is a volatile enforcer for the Dark Hearts whose actions escalate the series’ violence.
Keeley plays him as combustible and frightening, a catalyst for crises that test both the task force and Robbie’s moral lines.
Episodes: 7 eps.
What to Expect: Explosive, tension-filled scenes of violence and confrontation; Keeley is frequently on the edge of disaster.
Interesting facts: His performance is often singled out in reviews for its intensity and unpredictability.
Notable Works: The Cured, Dublin Murders, Burnt, 68 Whiskey.
More Actors
• Phoebe Fox as Sara (Tom’s biological daughter)
• Dominic Colón as Breaker
• Margarita Levieva as Eryn
• Raphael Sbarge as Michael
• Mickey Sumner as Shelley
• Elvis Nolasco as Freddie
• Brian Goodman as Vincent
• Colin Bates as Shane
• Isaach De Bankolé as Father Daniel.
FAQ – Task (2025) TV Series
How many episodes are in Season 1?
Season 1 is seven episodes long.
What is Task about?
Task is a gritty HBO crime drama about an FBI agent who leads a task force to stop a string of violent robberies carried out by an unassuming family man.
Is Task based on a true story?
No, Task (2025) is not based on a true story, it’s a fictional crime-drama miniseries created by Brad Ingelsby, the same writer behind Mare of Easttown.
Is Task related to Mare of Easttown?
It is not a direct sequel, but it is from Brad Ingelsby, the creator of Mare of Easttown, and shares similar regional tone and moral complexity.
Where was Task filmed?
Filming took place on location in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, including places like Downingtown, Coatesville, Ridley, Aston, Upper Chichester, Marcus Hook, Chadds Ford, and local parks like Ridley Creek State Park & Wissahickon Valley Park. More on Decider
Where can I watch Task?
New episodes air on HBO and the series streams on Max / HBO Max.
Conclusion
Task (2025) is a gripping and emotional series that dives deep into human pain, guilt, and redemption.
It stands out not for flashy action but for its honest storytelling and strong performances, especially from Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey.
The show explores how people face their darkest moments and try to make things right, even when the odds are against them.
While the pace can be slow, the tension and emotion make it worth watching.
Task reminds viewers that every choice has consequences and that redemption, no matter how hard, is always possible.