Task: The real story that inspired the Dark Hearts biker gang explored

Creator Brad Ingelsby chose the familiar Delaware County setting for his latest crime drama, Task, because he felt that he was not done telling stories about his childhood town after Mare of Easttown.

The haunting streets of Philadelphia are re-familiarised in HBO's latest, with a new ensemble of actors. The constant push-and-pull between Tom Pelphrey and Mark Ruffalo's characters forms the heart of the narrative, but the crime series has finally revealed its big bad in the Sons of Anarchy style Dark Hearts Biker gang. Justifying their name, the members of this biker gang are brutal, violent and will go to any extent to get what they want.

Task's stakes were increased tenfold following the introduction of the Dark Hearts biker gang, but their three-dimensional portrayal and authenticity provide a richness to the narrative never seen before. This is because Ingelsby draws inspiration from a real and infamous biker gang in Delaware County.

Here's all about the biker gang that inspired Task's Dark Hearts.

Task's Dark Hearts biker gang is inspired by The Warlocks from Delaware County

One thing that Ingelsby gets right in Task is to show the good and bad of all characters. Even antagonists like Robbie Prendergrast are fully fleshed out and given harrowing side stories to justify the criminal path they have chosen for themselves in this unforgiving world. After a robbery goes wrong and Robbie's group kills three members of the biker gang, violence is unleashed.

While the Dark Hearts biker gang was initially written as the ominous antagonistic presence in Task, Ingelsby turned to a real biker group in Delaware County for inspiration. Thinking back on his childhood days, the creator was reminded of the infamous biker gang called The Warlocks, which eventually became the basis of the Dark Hearts biker gang in HBO's latest series.

However, Ingelsby hit a dead-end when he realised the stereotypes prevailing about these biker gangs. In an interview with IndieWire, the creator revealed the challenges he faced during the writing process:

“All the cops and detectives we talked to were like, ‘Dude, they’re all druggies. They’re all just selling so they can get high. And there wasn’t a loyalty, there’s no code. And yet I didn’t want to lean into that stereotypical [gang].''

Task's Dark Hearts biker gang is rooted in reality

Delaware County's detectives' stereotypical opinions about The Warlocks forced Inglesby to look for alternative options to make his Task biker gang real and not just two-dimensional characters driving the show's narrative aimlessly. That is when executive producer and director Jeremiah Zagar entered the picture, who has also co-developed the latest crime drama.

Zagar reconnected with one of his old friends, Carim Mow, who had actually been a part of one of these gangs in the past. Carim Mow is now listed as one of the consultants on Task who helped develop the Dark Hearts biker gang and transform them into three-dimensional characters. Having lived that reality for many years, Mow gave valuable tips and shared his life experiences with the actors, which helped them tap into the shared brotherhood and family dynamics within the gang.

Appreciating Mow's contribution to the show, Brad Ingelsby said:

“He expressed a love for this culture in this community, a sense of brotherhood and purpose that we didn’t get from the cops because he was inside that gang, and those were his family.''

He added:

“We leaned on him a lot, throughout the series… He was such a great resource...When he spoke to the actors about the guns that they use or the dr*gs that they sold, or the way they sold those dr*gs, why they did that, and how they did it, was with such specificity and knowledge and intimacy. And I think it made the show great and I think it made those characters so great.''

The authentic portrayal of street biker gangs and the contribution of real members like Carim Mow prove why Task is a genre-bending show that transcends and blurs the lines between reality and fiction.

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