HBO's acclaimed 2021 crime miniseries Mare of Easttown is set to return, though not through a conventional second season. Instead, Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Emmy-winning role as Lori Ross in the upcoming second season of Task, creator Brad Ingelsby's newer HBO crime drama. The move matters because it formally links the two prestige series into a shared fictional universe, a device typically reserved for superhero franchises or procedural dramas rather than acclaimed one-off dramas.

Both series are set in rural Pennsylvania, and Ingelsby has previously said Task felt as though it lived "in the same world as Mare". Task stars Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, an FBI agent and former priest leading a task force; its second season sees him heading a new unit, with additions including Mahershala Ali, Harry Melling, Adam Nagaitis, Aminah Nieves and Edgar Ramirez. A standalone Mare of Easttown second season remains possible, with Kate Winslet reportedly saying it has a "strong likelihood" and could film in 2027, though no release dates for either have been confirmed.