Unlocking the Hidden Link: How Task Secretly Powers the Gritty World of Mare of Easttown—You Won’t Believe the Connection!

Philly’s got every reason to be buzzing—not just ‘cause the Eagles are cruising towards another Super Bowl crown, but because Brad Ingelsby, the mastermind behind Mare of Easttown, is dropping a brand-new HBO crime drama right in our backyard: Delaware County. Now, here’s a kicker—this fresh series, Task, starring Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent pulling together a team to tackle a spree of armed robberies, lives in the same gritty universe as Mare. Imagine Mare Sheehan suddenly bumping into Ruffalo’s character at your local Wawa—wild, right? While there’s no official crossover plotted, the thought alone sparks a crazy cool vibe of interconnected storytelling that’s as addictive as your favorite pre-workout. And with Ingelsby’s other Pennsylvania-set dramas floating around, the idea of this unofficial ‘MCU’ of Pennsylvania crime stories firing up is nothing short of thrilling. So, are we ready to dive deep into this tangled web of crime and drama that makes you wonder—could Philly’s crime-solving heroes be just one Wawa away from teaming up? LEARN MORE

Philly folks have a lot to celebrate. Not only are the Eagles handily defending last year’s Super Bowl title, but Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby has blessed the city with another HBO crime drama set in the Delaware County area. Titled Task, the new series follows an FBI agent (played by Mark Ruffalo) who assembles a task force to track down the culprits behind a string of armed robberies.

Though Kate Winslet’s Mare Sheehan doesn’t make an appearance in the new series, Ingelsby says that the story starring Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey technically takes place in the same connected universe. (AKA, the one we’re all living in right now.)

“I think there were still more stories to be told about people in Delaware County,” Ingelsby told The Hollywood Reporter. “They exist in the same world, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Mare (Winslet) walked into a Wawa that Tom (Ruffalo) was in. I don’t have a story in mind that’s a crossover, but I love the idea of their worlds intersecting.”

It doesn’t feel like Ingelsby’s style to have Winslet and Ruffalo team up in a future series, but why stop there? Echo Valley, the Apple TV+ drama that Ingelsby wrote earlier this year brought Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, and Domhnall Gleeson to a ranch in Southern Pennsylvania. So does Ingelsby’s American Woman (2018) with Sienna Miller and Out of the Furnace (2013) with Christian Bale—which technically takes place closer to Pittsburgh. We’ll let it slide, though, because Pelphrey seems excited by the idea of a crossover as well.

“Welcome to the new MCU,” Pelphrey added in the THR interview. “That would be amazing. I was a huge fan of Mare of Easttown. And obviously, I’m a big fan of Task. So, if there’s a version where those things crossover, I think that would make a lot of people very happy.”