Season two of Task is beginning to take shape at HBO with the casting of Mahershala Ali.
The two-time Oscar winner will join returning lead Mark Ruffalo in the drama from creator and writer Brad Ingelsby. Ali is the first new cast member announced for season two; Ruffalo is the only confirmed returnee from the show’s first season.
Ali is also making a return to HBO seven years after starring in the third season of True Detective.
Season two of Task will follow Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis, an FBI agent, as he “takes the helm of a new task force, but the deeper the operation runs, the harder it is to tell who’s the target,” per the show’s logline. Ali (Moonlight, Jurassic World Rebirth) will play Eddie Barnes, a well-respected DEA agent in Philadelphia whose team comes into conflict with Tom’s.
The first season of Task, which aired last fall, also starred Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Raúl Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox and Martha Plimpton. Not everyone’s character survived the season, so some cast turnover was inevitable.
Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown) will return as showrunner for season two and executive produces with Paul Lee and Mark Roybal of Wiip, Jeremiah Zagar, Ruffalo and Ron Schmidt. Nicole Jordan-Webber and Karen Wacker are co-EPs.
Ali won Oscars for Moonlight in 2017 and Green Book in 2019. Alongside Jurassic World Rebirth, his recent credits also include Leave the World Behind, Apple TV’s Swan Song and voice work in the Spider-Verse animated films. He’s long been attached to a new take on Blade at Marvel, but the project has been in development hell for some time. Ali is repped by Cognition, CAA, Relevant and attorney Shelby J. Weiser of Sloane Offer.
