Mark Ruffalo leads the charge as head of an FBI task force in HBO Series ‘Task’

Brad Ingelsby isn’t done with Pennsylvania—not by a long shot. The creator behind HBO’s Mare of Easttown is back with Task, a new series once again set in the Philly suburbs. But don’t expect a repeat. This time, he’s traded the small-town detective work for a slow-burn crime saga starring Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent and Tom Pelphrey as a local trash collector with a secret life.

Set against the backdrop of blue-collar neighborhoods, Task dives into a wave of drug-house robberies and the unlikely people behind them. Ruffalo plays Tom Brandis, an ex-priest turned FBI agent whose own crisis of faith runs parallel to the case he’s trying to crack. Pelphrey’s character, Robbie Prendergrast, juggles dead-end work, family dysfunction, and, knocking over drug dens. “That was a character that I was interested in—a man whose faith is challenged by events in his life,” Ingelsby told Vanity Fair.

The idea stemmed from Ingelsby’s own family. His uncle, once a priest, left the clergy after falling in love. That backstory planted the seed. “Essentially, why did he leave? What’s his relationship like with God?” Ingelsby said. The details clicked into place when he learned that priests sometimes assist the FBI. From there, Brandis was born a man of God turned federal agent navigating loss, duty, and doubt.

Authenticity is non-negotiable for Ingelsby. “The aggregate of all those little decisions is profound,” he told Vanity Fair, explaining why he brought in real-life advisers from law enforcement and even outlaw biker culture. He wants the setting to feel lived-in, not staged and he’s betting viewers will notice.

Casting Ruffalo wasn’t automatic. Ingelsby needed someone who could hold layers: intellectual curiosity, spiritual past, paternal instinct. After dinner and a deep story breakdown, Ruffalo signed on. To embody Brandis’s post-trauma state, the actor even put on weight. “He’s kind of let it go,” Ingelsby said. “Also, I think it helps the character to be a guy that starts out, and you don’t have a lot of faith in him as a cop.”

Pelphrey, meanwhile, altered his appearance dramatically for the part. Gritty and grounded, his transformation helped sell the role. “He knew this way of life,” Ingelsby noted. With a supporting cast that includes Martha Plimpton, Raúl Castillo, and Thuso Mbedu, Task aims to balance explosive action with emotional complexity. The stakes are high but the creator insists it’s still the fine-grain truth that matters most. “Because I have to live here, so I better get it right.”

You can read the full interview with Vanity Fair here. Task will debut later this year.

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