HBO’s “Task” is back filming in DELCO for Season 2

HBO’s crime drama “Task” is back in Delaware County this week to continue filming its second season in Upper Darby and Drexel Hill.

That means production crews are shutting down sections of Woodland Avenue, Highland Avenue, and Edmonds Avenue with parking restrictions and road closures from 8 PM Wednesday through 8 PM Thursday while Mark Ruffalo and company film scenes in the same neighborhoods where the first season turned Delco into one of the most recognizable settings on premium television.

If you live in Upper Darby and you’re wondering why there are production trucks and equipment vehicles lining your street, congratulations because your neighborhood is the backdrop for one of the best shows on television and the minor inconvenience of a temporary parking restriction is the price of living in a part of the country that Hollywood has finally realized is more interesting than filming everything in Atlanta and calling it somewhere else.

The first season of “Task” earned six Emmy nominations last week including outstanding lead actor for Ruffalo, outstanding supporting actor for Tom Pelphrey, and outstanding writing for Brad Ingelsby’s season finale, along with nominations for directing, editing, and cinematography.

Six Emmy nominations for a show that was filmed entirely in southeastern Pennsylvania using $49.8 million in tax credits from the Pennsylvania Film Office, which is the largest credit the state has ever given to a single production because someone in Harrisburg finally figured out that investing in film production that actually shoots in Pennsylvania instead of pretending to be Pennsylvania generates jobs, tourism, and national attention for a region that has been underrepresented on television for decades despite having more compelling stories to tell than any other part of the country.

Mahershala Ali Joining the Task Cast Is a Massive Get

Season 2 brings Mahershala Ali into the mix as Philadelphia-based DEA agent Eddie Barnes whose unit is expected to come into conflict with Ruffalo’s FBI task force.

That’s the kind of casting addition that elevates an already strong show into appointment television territory because Ali is a two-time Academy Award winner who brings a level of gravitas and screen presence that makes everything he’s involved in feel significant.

Mahershala Ali has been cast in ‘TASK’ Season 2 alongside Mark Ruffalo.

Mahershala Ali has been cast in ‘TASK’ Season 2 alongside Mark Ruffalo.

(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/1BJWmrcO4g

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 23, 2026

The details of the second season’s premise are still mostly under wraps but Ruffalo’s task force clashing with Ali’s DEA unit in a Philadelphia-set crime drama filmed entirely in the neighborhoods where these kinds of stories actually play out is the most compelling setup for a season of television that HBO has produced since the first season of “Task” proved the concept works.

The combination of Ruffalo and Ali going head-to-head in a crime drama set in Philly and Delco and filmed on location in the actual communities being depicted rather than on a soundstage in Los Angeles is everything that Ingelsby has been building toward since “Mare of Easttown” proved that southeastern Pennsylvania could be the setting for prestige television that resonates nationally without sacrificing the authenticity of the region’s culture, accents, and geography.

The “Mare of Easttown” Crossover Might Actually Happen

The most interesting casting news for Season 2 is that Julianne Nicholson, who won an Emmy playing Lori Ross in “Mare of Easttown,” is reprising that role in “Task,” which means the long-rumored crossover between Ingelsby’s two Delco-set crime dramas is actually happening and the universe he’s been building across both shows is starting to connect in a way that creates a shared southeastern Pennsylvania crime drama universe that is genuinely the most exciting development in prestige television for anyone who lives in this region.

Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Emmy-winning role as Lori Ross from “Mare of Easttown” in “Task” Season 2.

While, until now, “Task” was not directly connected to “Mare of Easttown,” both HBO series hail from creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby and take place in the… pic.twitter.com/rU8y6Domjy

— Variety (@Variety) July 9, 2026

Kate Winslet told Deadline earlier this year that there’s a “strong likelihood” a second season of “Mare of Easttown” is also in the works, which means the crossover between the two shows could eventually bring Winslet’s detective Mare Sheehan into the same world as Ruffalo’s FBI agent and Ali’s DEA agent for a multi-show crime drama universe set entirely in the communities surrounding Philadelphia.

Ingelsby creating a Delco crime universe on HBO that connects “Mare of Easttown” and “Task” through shared characters and overlapping storylines is the kind of ambitious television storytelling that most showrunners talk about but never execute.

The fact that it’s all being filmed on location in the actual neighborhoods where the stories take place gives it a level of authenticity that no other crime drama franchise in television can match.

Southeastern Pennsylvania Is Becoming a Permanent Home for Premium Television

The $49.8 million in tax credits that the Pennsylvania Film Office committed to “Task” guarantees that southeastern Pennsylvania is going to have a regular production presence for the foreseeable future because that kind of financial investment means multiple seasons of filming in the region with hundreds of local jobs created across every production cycle.

Communities in Delco, Chester County, and the surrounding areas can expect “Task” to be a regular fixture over the coming months as the second season shoots throughout the region, and the economic impact of a major HBO production spending months filming in local neighborhoods extends well beyond the production crew to the restaurants, hotels, and businesses that benefit from having a film crew in town.

The first season ventured further north in the state with scenes at Bangor Union Quarry, Sixpenny Creek Quarry, and Marsh Creek State Park, which means Ingelsby has been using the full diversity of Pennsylvania’s geography to tell stories that feel rooted in specific places rather than the generic “any city USA” approach that most crime dramas take when they film in one location and pretend it’s another.

Heery Loftus Casting put out a general call last week for background actors for the new season including Latino men for organized crime roles and men and women of all ethnicities for law enforcement and paid background work, so if you live in the region and want to be part of the show this is your chance to show up and represent Delco on premium cable television.

Six Emmy nominations, the largest tax credit in Pennsylvania Film Office history, a two-time Oscar winner joining the cast, a potential crossover with “Mare of Easttown” that brings Kate Winslet’s character into the shared universe, and the entire production shooting on location in the neighborhoods where the stories actually take place. Southeastern Pennsylvania keeps winning on television and Brad Ingelsby keeps proving that the stories from this region deserve the same prestige treatment that every other part of the country has been getting from Hollywood for decades while Delco and Philly waited for someone to finally point the cameras in our direction.

Ruffalo, Ali, Nicholson, and potentially Winslet all filming in Delco across two connected HBO crime dramas set in the communities where we live. Not a bad time to be from southeastern Pennsylvania.

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