“Task” debuted on HBO on Sunday night and went on to reach 3.1 million viewers in its first three days, according to Warner Bros. Discovery.
That puts viewership of the premiere episode 36% above that of the”Mare of Easttown” premiere in 2021. (While “Task” is not a sequel to “Mare of Easttown,” both limited series are crime dramas set in the greater Philadelphia area created by Brad Ingelsby.) “Mare of Easttown” went on to be a success for HBO, averaging 12.9 million viewers across its seven episodes in 90 days, indicating good things to come for “Task.” These statistics come from a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on the HBO cable channel plus WBD’s own data regarding streams on HBO Max.
Related Stories
Additionally, “Task” entered the top five series debuts in the five-year history of HBO Max. While three-day viewership totals for the full top five were not made available, the other four series on the list are “House of the Dragon,” which premiered with just under 10 million viewers in one day; “The Last of Us,” which premiered with 4.7 million viewers in one day; “The Penguin,” which premiered with 5.3 million viewers in four days; and “Dune: Prophecy,” which premiered with 2.1 million viewers in two days.
Popular on Variety
“Task” stars Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, an FBI agent who, per the official logline, “heads a task force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man” named Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey). The cast also includes Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Raúl Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox and Martha Plimpton.
Ingelsby serves as showrunner and executive produces alongside Ruffalo; directors Jeremiah Zagar and Salli Richardson-Whitfield; Wiip’s Mark Roybal and Paul Lee for wiip; David Crockett; and Ron Schmidt. Nicole Jordan-Webber and Jeremy Yaches serve as co-executive producers for Public Record.
