HBO’s ‘Task’ is not a Philly story. It is a Delco story, says creator Brad Ingelsby
“It’s a suburban story, I was a suburban kid. I don’t want to tell viewers, ‘Oh, this is about Philly,’ and they come in and go, ‘Dude, he lived in the woods.’”
In a year full of new Philadelphia-set TV shows, there’s one thing that Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby wants audiences to keep in mind: His new series Task is a Delco story.
Yes, they filmed in Philly (and all across Pennsylvania). Wawa coffee, Rita’s Italian Ice, and hoagies make an appearance. The characters sport Phillies and Eagles merch. But unlike recent Philly crime shows like Long Bright River or Deli Boys, Task centers on the city’s leafy suburbs — the kind of place where Ingelsby grew up and has since made his creative signature, from his hit 2021 series Mare to this year’s AppleTV+ film, Echo Valley.
Unlike the murder mystery Mare, Task is a cops-and-robbers tale following FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo, also an executive producer), an ex-priest and widower who leads a task force to catch masked thieves — led by trash collector Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) — stealing from drug houses across Delaware and Montgomery Counties.
“This isn’t a Philly story. I wish I could say it was Philly — it is a Delco story,” said Ingelsby, who was raised in Berwyn. “I know [Bruce] Springsteen always says, like, ‘Hey, I never held an honest job in my life.’ And I’m like, I’d be lying if I said it was a Philly story … It’s a suburban story, I was a suburban kid. I don’t want to tell viewers, ‘Oh, this is about Philly,’ and they come in and go, ‘Dude, he lived in the woods.’”
Ruffalo’s character lives in Springfield and Pelphrey’s lives in Elverson, while the task force is headquartered in Kennett Square.
Telling a Delco story, of course, also means nailing the legendary accent that Mare helped popularize (and Saturday Night Live parodied). Ruffalo won’t be using it, but Pelphrey, the Ozark actor from Howell Township, N.J., will, along with other actors in the cast including Raúl Castillo (playing Cliff Broward, Robbie’s partner in crime) and Emilia Jones (Maeve Prendergrast, Robbie’s niece).
They all worked closely with Susanne Sulby, the same dialect coach behind Kate Winslet’s unforgettable accent in Mare. The aesthetic of Task will feel similar, too, thanks to production designer Keith Cunningham and costume designer Meghan Kasperlik, who both worked with Ingelsby on Mare.
The commitment to authentically representing the region was part of what drew Jeremiah Zagar, the Hustle director whose father is famous Magic Gardens mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, to the project.
“I just thought [Ingelsby] was so genuine, and we’d been talking about meeting for a long time, because there aren’t a ton of us from Philadelphia in this space,” said Zagar, the South Philly native who now lives in Brooklyn and directed four episodes of Task. “The joy of putting it on screen, for me, is making it authentic, making it feel true. I sometimes see Philadelphia [on screen], and I think, ‘That doesn’t remind me of the Philadelphia I know.’ I love feeling like we’re creating a truthful, accurate representation of the Philadelphia experience.”
For Ingelsby, the hope now is for audiences to not only appreciate the representation of his hometown region, but to get invested in the twists and turns of Task as new episodes drop every Sunday.
“I just want people to get wrapped up in the story and really be like, ‘I want to see what’s going to happen next.’” he said. “It seems very small, that idea, but I think it’s vital.”
‘Task’ premiered on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 9 p.m.