Editor’s note: Deadline’s It Starts on the Page features standout drama series scripts in 2026 Emmy contention.

In his follow-up to the HBO limited series Mare of Easttown headlined by Kate Winslet, Brad Ingelsby made his return to the network with Task, a crime drama that lands him in Delco County with another A-lister leading the way. Task stars Mark Ruffalo as FBI agent Tom Brandis, who is in charge of a task force that sets out to bring down a crew of thieves led by Robbie (Tom Pelphrey). The crew’s latest job has them in hot water with not just the FBI but also a dangerous gang hell-bent on getting their money back.

In the season finale titled “A Still Small Voice,” written by Ingelsby and directed by Jeremiah Zagar, the consequences of a deadly shootout in the previous episode comes to a head as Brandis and his team are up against the clock to bring the criminals to justice before more lives are lost.

Once the case is resolved, the episode turns its attention to Brandis’ personal life, specifically on a hearing that will decide whether his adoptive son will stay in prison for the death of Brandis’ wife. The entire season has built up to this pivotal moment as Brandis, who makes a speech at the sentencing, comes to terms with what life would be like if his son were released.

The last moments of the finale hint that we may see more of Brandis and what his family might look like in the future. That turned out to be true: the series has been renewed for a second season expected to shoot later this year, with Ruffalo returning to star.

Below is the script for “A Still Small Voice” with an intro by Ingelsby in which he explains how attending a monthly forgiveness group helped him craft Brandis’ journey of “finding the ability to let go of the anger” and talks about filming the courtroom speech with Ruffalo, revealing how many takes it took.

A question I like to ask when formulating a new character is, “Why are we are entering this character’s life right now?” In the case of Tom Brandis, played by the singular Mark Ruffalo, a tragedy (matricide) has devastated his family unit. A man of faith, he’s come to doubt everything he held as truth in life. His own son, Ethan, in the throes of a mental health crisis, threw Tom’s wife down the stairs, killing her. When the story begins Ethan’s sentencing is just days away. Because Ethan will be released back into the family’s care following his incarceration, the judge will take into consideration what the family wants when determining the length of Ethan’s prison term. He’s asked them to prepare a statement.

Tom’s older daughter, Sara (Phoebe Fox), is mad and hurt. She’s also deathly afraid of what will happen to her father if Ethan comes home. His younger daughter, Emily (Silvia Dionicio), doesn’t believe her brother will get the mental health care he needs in prison and wants to ask the judge for a lesser sentence.

Tom is stuck in the middle. If he takes Sara’s side, he will lose Emily. Support Emily and he loses Sara. Ethan’s hearing casts a long shadow over everything Tom does in season one.

My uncle Ed, a former Augustinian who left the priesthood when he fell in love with a woman, now runs a monthly forgiveness group. He allowed me to listen in on a session as I was writing the first season. On that day, members of the group were angry at betrayals from colleagues and cheating spouses. They were upset that people couldn’t acknowledge what they had done, the pain they had caused. A professor moved away from the college where he’d been wronged; the violation was so excruciating he no longer felt comfortable living near campus. Another member said he scanned obituaries every morning hoping that he would find in there the name of the person who had backstabbed him. The inability to forgive was causing seismic problems in their lives. Afterward, I asked my uncle what he thought it took to forgive someone. “You have to let go of the anger,” he said. “And that’s really, really hard.”

Tom’s journey in Task is finding the ability to let go of the anger. It’s a journey aided by his interactions with the young, inexperienced members of the FBI Task Force (played by the brilliant trio of Fabien Frankel, Thuso Mbedu, and Alison Oliver) and, ultimately, a very long car ride shared with the object of his investigation, Robbie Prendergrast, played by the inimitable Tom Pelphrey. During this car ride, the antagonism between the two men vanishes. Robbie spares Tom’s life and later sacrifices himself to ensure a better future for his children. In doing so, Tom’s faith in goodness is restored. And, consequentially, he is able to let go of his anger.

But he still has to go to the courtroom, stand before the son he hasn’t seen in two years, the same son who took away his wife, and forgive him. The speech I wrote originated from testimonials of caregivers whose children suffer from mental disorders. One mother said that she dreaded the weekends. Weekends meant two full days on her own with her son. How on earth could she possibly manage? I wanted the speech to be honest about what it would have been like to raise Ethan. Joy and pain. Hope and despair. But always love.

As the shoot day drew near, I avoided talking about the speech with Mark. I knew how much that speech meant to the show and Mark knew it, too. Talking about it would only add pressure. We talked only vaguely, practically — what would Tom wear? Would he bring a picture of his wife, Susan? Where would he sit in the courtroom? We never once discussed the text. Mark only asked for enough time to get it right, saying that it might take him a little while to get comfortable and find a groove. We built out a full day on the schedule for that speech. But we didn’t need it because he nailed it on the first take. He found all the joy and pain. Hope and despair. But especially love.

Read the script below.