Where does Task take place? Setting of the HBO series, explored

Brad Ingelsby is revisiting Delaware County in Task after his breakthrough 2021 crime miniseries, Mare of Easttown. HBO's latest show, which premiered its first episode on September 7, is writer-creator Brad Ingelsby's second fictional crime tale set in Pennsylvania. The new drama series shares its haunting and eerie setting with Mare of Easttown, which starred Kate Winslet in the lead role and swept many Emmy awards in 2021.

Mark Ruffalo stars as Tom Brandis, a priest turned FBI agent, who is assigned as the leader of a task force on a string of violent robberies. Tom Brandis, like Winslet's Mare Sheehan, is facing personal tragedies of his own (the recent death of his wife) and has a bit of a drinking problem when we first meet him in Episode 1.

Task employs the same dark streets and familiar setting of Mare of Easttown in a new and unsettling tale of crime, led by Ruffalo's Tom.

More on this in our story.

Task: Exploring the setting and characters in the HBO series

For Mare of Easttown fans, who have been waiting to see Winslet's Mare Sheehan on a new gripping case, Mark Ruffalo's Task is the perfect follow-up, set in the same haunting Pennsylvania town of Philadelphia. Creator Brad Ingelsby takes his audience to Delaware County again, where an FBI agent is jolted back from his sabbatical after a string of violent robberies.

The best way to describe the HBO series' setting is that it feels like an unofficial sequel to Mare of Easttown, with many mentions of Wawa, Scrapple, and Rita's Water Ice, first introduced in Mare.

The new HBO crime series reintroduces the familiar streets of Delaware County, which are now being plagued by another haunting mystery for Tom Brandis to solve. Ingelsby revealed how he was inspired by Michael Mann’s classic crime film Heat for his HBO drama, which used Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as two foil characters.

Talking about how Heat lends inspiration to his HBO series, the creator told The Wrap:

“What I admired about ‘Heat’ was it was so tense, and the tension in that movie came from the fact that you wanted Robert De Niro to get away and you wanted Al Pacino to find him, and knowing these things can’t coexist. So that collision course model was interesting to me.”

Ruffalo's Tom and Tom Pelphrey's Robbie are similar foil characters to those of Pacino and De Niro. While Robbie stands on the opposite side of the law (in comparison to Tom), Task also shines an important light on his character and his relationship with his niece, Maeve. The unsettling backdrop of Delaware County serves as a key tool in exploring Robbie’s criminal mindset and the reasons behind his actions.

Task shares its eerie atmosphere with Mare of Easttown

Task essentially feels a lot like Mare of Easttown (with a new set of characters) because it was born out of this breakthrough 2021 crime series. Ingelsby believed that there were still many crime stories about people in Delaware County, leading him to conceive the latest HBO series.

Additionally, the creator believes that both of his shows share thematic similarities and setting, as he revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

“They exist in the same world, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Mare walked into a Wawa that Tom was in. I don’t have a story in mind that’s a crossover, but I love the idea of their worlds intersecting.”

Ingelsby also revealed how they shot Task in many of the same locations they used for the 2021 drama series. The creator's familiarity with the place and the streets naturally compelled him to create another story there, which is why the show feels similar in vein to Mare of Easttown.

Task will premiere weekly episodes every Sunday on HBO Max.

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