She grew up on set. Now she's a grown-up in 'Task'

Actor Emilia Jones of 'CODA' takes on a weighty role in HBO's new crime drama.

- BY KAITLYN HUAMANI

"IT WAS really fun just being someone so different to myself," says Emilia Jones of her new role on TV.

Emilia Jones wanted nothing more than to book the role of Maeve Prendergrast after meeting with Brad Ingelsby about “Task,” his upcoming HBO series.

But one question he asked during their initial meeting left her puzzled: “Are you good with kids?”

The actor, who broke out in the 2022 best picture Oscar winner “CODA,” hadn’t yet read a script for the crime drama, but she enthusiastically replied yes to Ingelsby’s question.

Once she started reading the script, Jones quickly learned that the role she was about to land — for a 21-year-old woman who puts her life on hold to care for her young cousins — would require her to work closely with young actors.

“A lot of the time, because I started acting when I was younger, I was the kid,” Jones said over Zoom from her native London. “It's really interesting for me to be on the other side of that.”

“Task,” which premieres Sunday, follows two men on opposite sides of the law. Mark Ruffalo plays FBI agent Tom Brandis, who forms a task force to apprehend a group of criminals as they carry out a string of violent robberies targeting drug houses. The leader behind the robberies is unsuspecting and sympathetic single dad Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), who relies on his niece Maeve (Jones) to look after his young children. The series is set in Delaware County, Pa., just like Ingelsby’s previous HBO hit, “Mare of Easttown.”

Jones described Maeve as tough and unapologetic, but she thinks of herself quite differently: “I'm a little bit of a people pleaser, as most Brits are,” she said. “We just apologize for our shadow and I'm very much like that."