Brad Ingelsby’s “Task” debuted to an impressive audience on Sunday night that notched 26% more viewers than the premiere of “Mare of Easttown,” his last HBO series.
The premiere of “Task,” which stars Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey as dueling protagonists, scored 3.1 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max in the U.S., according to Nielsen live-plus-three-day figures and internal figures from Warner Bros. Discovery. With that strong debut, “Task” now ranks among the Top 5 HBO series debuts in platform history.
Since its premiere on Sunday night, “Task” has been the No. 1 title, both in the U.S. and globally, on HBO Max.
“Mare of Easttown,” which starred Kate Winslet and aired in 2021 on HBO, went on to average 12.9 million viewers for the season.
After the success of “Mare,” Ingelsby and Winslet tried to develop what a second season for the series would look like, but ultimately decided to pause the plans after struggling to find a story that would be as emotionally compelling as the first seven-episode run. Their discussions, however, paved the way for Ingelsby to create “Task.”
With Ingelsby serving as creator, writer, showrunner and executive producer, “Task” is also set in the Philadelphia area and centers on an FBI agent (Ruffalo) who heads a task force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Pelphrey), per the official logline.
Ruffalo and Pelphrey star alongside Emilia Jones, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Thuso Mbedu and Martha Plimpton, among others.
