Marvel Star’s Hit HBO Series Surprise Renewed for New Season (Will It Affect Avengers: Secret Wars?)

Avengers: Secret Wars fans are raising their eyebrows with the news that one extremely pivotal cast member could be busy at work on another project in the next year or so. When Mark Ruffalo isn’t busy Hulking out with his Avengers buddies, he’s usually doing some kind of prestige TV or film work – including his recent starring role in HBO’s Task, the latest crime-drama-thriller from creator Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown).

After an extremely popular and acclaimed run with its first season, Task is reportedly being brought back for Season 2, with Ruffalo set to return in the starring role of FBI Agent Tom Brandis.

“We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have HBO’s unwavering support of Task from the very first script onwards, throughout production, and during their extraordinary launch of our first season to audiences. They are an unmatched creative home,” Brad Ingelsby said in a statement. “On behalf of the entire Task team, in front of and behind the camera, I am honored and excited to get back to work on a second season of our show.”

Read Next

6 Marvel Movies That Are All But Confirmed for Phase 7 (I Can’t Believe #3 Won’t Happen Sooner)

No word on when production on the next season will start, but the announcement does raise questions about Ruffalo’s commitment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems like Ruffalo and Ingelsby are in a good creative stride right now, as Ingelsby has admitted in interviews for Task, where he indicated he was developing more stories for Task with Ruffalo. “We had such a good time. Mark is the best to have on set, and I love working with this guy. I would work with him as much as I … and I think we have … you know, there’s a lot of stories.”

Does Ruffalo’s Task Season 2 Role Affect Avengers: Secret Wars?

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are (in some ways) make-or-break event film releases from Marvel Studios in 2026 and 2027 (respectively). Since Avengers: Endgame released in 2019, the MCU brand has slowly been eroded, marked by movie and TV releases that have failed to hit with fans the same way. Doomsday and Secret Wars are speculated to be providing the MCU with a soft-reboot opportunity to condense the current multiverse structure back down into one shared universe sandbox, where the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man (and all the rest) finally co-exist in the same franchise. It’s expected to be an all-hands-on-deck affair, with pretty much any actor who’s ever taken on a major Marvel role – in any era – potentially able to pop up for a cameo.

In the midst of all that, the long, sordid history of Hulk in the MCU was one thing on the agenda for Marvel Studios to fix with the Phase 7 soft-reboot after Secret Wars. That could be an exit door for Ruffalo, as there are theories that longtime Avengers actors could be swapped out for younger recastings as part of the timeline reset. Before we get there, though, Mark Ruffalo has at least one more confirmed Hulk performance, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day next summer.

Task is streaming on HBO. Avengers movies stream on Disney+.