Task
Created by Brad Ingelsby (HBO, 2025)
Task’s creator, Brad Inglesby, grew up in a Catholic home, attending Archbishop John Carroll High School in Eastern Pennsylvania and Villanova University.
Inglesby crafts his protagonist, Tom Brandis, as a former priest turned FBI agent who is on leave due to the murder of his wife. Brandis met his wife Susan at the hospital, where she served as a patient advocate, while working as a chaplain there himself and volunteering with the FBI to provide counsel during mass casualty events. After leaving the priesthood, Brandis joined the FBI.
While Brandis is on leave, his superior appoints him the head of a task force to investigate a string of home burglaries tied to a local motorcycle gang. The burglary mastermind is the brother of a slain motorcycle gang member, and he is executing the violent robberies as a means of revenge.
The theme of forgiveness recurs throughout the miniseries. The burglar executes his plan of revenge with complete focus but along the way accidentally comes across the son of the man who killed his brother. Vengeance only goes so far and does not result in him taking a life for a life.
Similarly, Brandis struggles to forgive his adopted son, who killed his wife, refusing to visit him in prison. Brandis’ feelings are mixed, though he is not supportive of an easier sentence for his son.
The story invites reflection on the meaning of family and the lengths one may go on their behalf—coupled with the complicated nature of forgiveness. Moreover, the show provides Catholics with an uncommon protagonist—a former priest who might have offered Mass in their parish or visited a family member in the hospital who now investigates criminals and puts himself at risk of being in the line of fire.
Task is now available to stream on HBO Max.
This article also appears in the February 2026 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 91, No. 2, page 38). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
Image: Courtesy of HBO
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