Kevin Feige may still be saying that Mahershala Ali’s Blade will make it to the MCU eventually, but seven years on from the two-time Oscar winner’s reveal as Marvel Studios’ Daywalker elect, our dreams of seeing Ali’s half-vampire mixing it up with the Avengers have been fading fast… until now. Well, sort of. You see, per Deadline‘s reporting, Mahershala Ali is about to team up with an Avenger, the esteemed Mark Ruffalo, just not in the MCU. Instead, the duo are set to star opposite each other in Season 2 of Brad Ingelsby’s thrilling drama/dramatic thriller Task.
According to Deadline, HBO and Ingelsby had earnestly planned for Task to be a one-and-done limited series for the network á la Ingelsby’s previous detective drama, Mare Of Easttown. However, between the first season having been met with rave reviews and significant viewing figures and both Ruffalo and Ingelsby feeling there was still more to explore with troubled FBI Agent Tom Brandis, a second outing quickly became an inevitability. Interestingly, this second season will see Ali enter the fray not as a criminal for Ruffalo’s Brandis to get into a cat-and-mouse situation with, but as ‘seasoned and well-respected’ DEA agent Eddie Barnes, whose unit comes into conflict with Brandis’ own as they get tangled up in a new, even murkier operation than last time out.
Suffice it to say, Tom Pelphrey — who so brilliantly played empathetic father (and unassuming-garbage-collector-turned-livewire-criminal) Robbie in Season 1 — will be one hell of a tough act to follow, and Deadline‘s reporting highlights as much in stressing how high Ingelsby and HBO set their bar when looking for a Season 2 co-lead. But in Academy Award winner, HBO’s True Detective Season 1 MVP, and all-round generational talent Mahersala Ali, it would appear that Ingelsby and co have found someone truly capable of dealing with the Task at hand. Now we just have to deal with the task that is waiting for the new season to hurry up and get here. Watch this space…
