Jonathan Sim
Fans and industry insiders gathered at the DGA Theater in New York City for an exclusive screening of the HBO series Task, Episode 6, titled “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a river.” The event showcased a pivotal hour of the acclaimed series, recently honored as one of AFI’s television programs of the year. Following the screening, the audience was treated to an in-depth Q&A session that peeled back the layers of the show’s gritty emotional landscape.
The post-screening conversation was moderated by journalist Jessica Shaw and featured a full lineup of the show’s creative team and ensemble cast. The panel included creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby, director/EP Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and executive producer Mark Roybal. They were joined on stage by the stars of the series: Mark Ruffalo (Tom Brandis), Tom Pelphrey (Robbie Prendergast), Emilia Jones (Maeve Prendergast), Fabien Frankel (Anthony Grasso), Thuso Mbedu (Aleah Clinton), Alison Oliver (Lizzie Stover), and Martha Plimpton (Kathleen McGinty).
Creator Brad Ingelsby kicked off the discussion by explaining the show’s genesis as a spiritual successor to his previous hit. “Mare of Easttown was a story of mothers, and I felt Task was a story about dads,” Ingelsby explained. He noted that he wanted to avoid a traditional whodunit, instead focusing on a “collision course” between two men—one who lost his faith and one with a belief in himself. “The tension of the show is that as they inch towards this collision, we’re scared because we love them both in different ways,” Ingelsby said.
Mark Ruffalo opened up about the heavy emotional lifting required to play Tom Brandis, a character defined by profound loss. His “north star” was the physical and emotional weight of grief. “To go through that kind of grief, you really understand that you are by yourself,” says Ruffalo. “That was where he always found himself. He would step out of it to be the cop, the dad, or to do his job, but that is what he went to bed with every night.”
Tom Pelphrey, who plays the fugitive Robbie, revealed he signed on without knowing his character’s fate. He recalled reading the script for episode six at 2:30 in the morning while visiting family for Thanksgiving. “I was in tears,” Pelphrey admitted. “I was like, ‘I don’t really know this guy yet, but I got to write him right now.'” He described the character’s fate as a “great tragedy” akin to Romeo and Juliet—something you hope won’t happen even though you know it must.
Despite their characters being adversaries, the cast found ways to bond off-screen—though Pelphrey jokingly noted he stayed away from Ruffalo to maintain character tension. “I’d see him. I’d be like, ‘Tom!’ and he’d walk away,” Ruffalo laughed.
Emilia Jones, who plays Maeve, shared a lighter side of the production, revealing that she went bowling with her fellow cast members before filming began. “Tom thrashed us all. We all lost terribly,” she joked. On a serious note, she spoke about the burden her character carries. “I think Maeve sees him as this kind of selfish uncle making reckless decisions,” Jones said, noting that eventually, Maeve realizes Robbie is “desperately unhappy and just wants to break free from this cycle of loss and grief”.
Martha Plimpton, who plays the memorable Kathleen McGinty, discussed joining the tight-knit cast later in the production. “You don’t want to gum up the works by being like, ‘Okay, now I’m here. Can we just take a step back?'” she quipped. She praised Ingelsby’s writing for relying on behavior rather than exposition, noting that her character just “fit in in the world.”
Thuso Mbedu spoke about the challenge of playing Aleah, a domestic violence survivor masked as a perfect cop. “She was unlike any character that I’ve ever played,” Mbedu said, explaining that the layered backstory made the role a “no-brainer”.
Alison Oliver discussed the tragic charm of her character, Lizzie. “I find people like that who have no idea how disruptive they are just so charming,” Oliver said. She emphasized that despite Lizzie’s messiness, “her gift is her goodness.”
Fabien Frankel shared what it was like to unpack Anthony Grasso as a character. “I remember sitting down with Brad in Philadelphia after I was cast,” Frankel recalls. “Similar to Tom, I had only read the first two episodes. Brad sent me the following five, and I read them on the train back from Philly. I was reading on the train, walking off the train, on my way back to the hotel, and in my hotel. By the time I got to bed at 3:00 a.m., I thought, “Oh shit, did Grasso fuck up. How am I going to do this?” Brad writes such beautifully three-dimensional characters that, even at the worst of times, you don’t truly hate anyone. You at least understand the “whys” of all these people. In episode six, Grasso explains to his sister that there is a reason for all of this. It doesn’t justify his mistakes, but he is a human being.”
The cast universally agreed that the specific Delaware County accent was a major hurdle, specifically phrases like “cherry water ice.” “I thought I was going to get fired at some point,” Mbedu confessed. Jones noted the difficulty of the word “water”: “As Brits, we elongate it, so it’s like a paragraph. I am shattered after saying it.”
Director Salli Richardson-Whitfield broke down the episode’s massive opening action sequence, emphasizing that spectacle means nothing without emotion. “Who cares about an action sequence if we can’t really get into the narrative of what’s going on and the pain,” she said. She described the brutal fight between Robbie and Jason as an “emotional battle” rather than just physical combat. Speaking of the episode, she said, “I hope everyone enjoyed it because it is probably the best thing I have done in my career.”
Mark Ruffalo shared his interpretation of the show. “Brad made a ‘cops and robbers’ show about empathy. It has the action, the intrigue, and the investigation, and then it sneaks up on you with empathy because Brad approaches each character that way.”
Ruffalo also shared a personal anecdote involving a friend of his who went to prison. “He said to me, ‘Mark, there are no excuses, but there are reasons.’ Where he came from, grew up, was born, and the education he was allowed to receive shaped his entire life—things he had no control over. He made some bad choices, but there is also redemption. That is written all over this piece.”
The night ended with a tease for the future. Ruffalo expressed excitement to address “topical difficult things” in the next season. Ingelsby promised a continued commitment to character complexity and “maybe a little more levity.”
Executive Producer Mark Roybal had a different suggestion for the writer. “As a producer, I’ll say more dragons and zombies,” Roybal joked, ending the panel on a high note.
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