Emilia Jones on Maeve and Jayson’s battle and keeping the money

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “A Still Small Voice,” the series finale of “Task,” now streaming on HBO Max.

Throughout HBO’s ‘Task,’ Maeve Prendergrast (Emilia Jones) is the audience’s focus after she discovers that her uncle, Robbie (Tom Pelphrey), is embroiled in a cat-and-mouse chase with both the FBI and a violent motorcycle gang called the Dark Hearts, after killing two members of the group and then kidnapping their son Sam (Ben Doherty) in the aftermath of their deaths. It’s Maeve who has to watch over Sam, knowing that the Dark Hearts or the FBI might find Robbie at some point.

After Robbie dies in episode 6, Maeve is left to deal with the loss of her uncle while also figuring out how to survive with her niece and nephew after Robbie’s death. In the final moments of the penultimate episode, Maeve receives the bag of money Robbie tried to hide before his death, giving her the chance to start a new life if she can escape the Dark Hearts.

Now that they realize the Dark Hearts are coming looking for her, it’s up to Maeve and the rest of the Prendergrast family to hide the money and get as far away from them as possible before it’s too late.

Jones spoke to Variety about Maeve and Robbie’s family dynamics, how Robbie’s death affects Maeve during the series finale and the final fight scene with Dark Heart’s final boss Jayson (Sam Keeley).

Robbie dies in episode 6, and in the final moments of the episode, Maeve gets the bag of Robbie’s money on her doorstep. She realizes that she’s the only person who knows what the Dark Hearts are looking for, and she’s struggling with a lot leading up to Episode 7.

Maeve has always been so smart, so as soon as she has the bag of money in her hand, she says, “Who’s going to want this?” She knows people will come after her and the kids. But at the same time, she’s just happy that Robbie’s plan worked. It is a moment of very mixed emotions for her.

How does Robbie’s sacrifice change the way Maeve feels about him?

For a long time, Maeve was torn between feeling resentment towards Robbie and feeling so much love for him. She had to pick up the pieces and be the strong adult figure in the relationship. When you first meet Maeve, she is so tired of picking up the pieces and cleaning up the mess Robbie makes. At the end of the show, when Maeve realizes that Robbie sacrificed himself with this plan, and it worked [because] he wouldn’t stop until it was successful, she has a lot of respect for him and she just knows that no matter what Robbie did, he always thought about other people. Even when he is questioned by Tom [Mark Ruffalo]Robbie says, “Please keep Maeve out of this.”

Robbie really has a heart of gold, and I think Brad does too [Ingelsby] does so well with the moral ambiguity. The bad guys can have good hearts and the good guys can have bad hearts. The scene with Grasso [Fabien Frankel] when he warns her, it’s a really good moment for his character because it shows you that despite all his flaws, he has learned from his mistakes. The same goes for Tom, and how he ultimately lets Maeve keep the money.

There’s a scene in the first episode where Robbie and Maeve are talking on the porch, and we get more insight into their family dynamics after her father’s death. There is generational trauma deep within Robbie, and now Maeve. So how does her family’s past influence the decisions she makes throughout the season?

She hasn’t had the time or space to truly grieve the loss of her father, and she keeps pushing it deeper inside her and blocking it out. The scene on the porch you mentioned is a very important scene for Maeve because it’s the first time she really says what she feels. No matter what you throw at Maeve, she’ll take it because she’s tough. It is the first time for Robbie to realize that there is a 21-year-old girl standing in front of him asking for help after losing her father. That’s why Robbie’s death is so hard for her to deal with, because Jayson killed her father and her uncle.

The finale has a final showdown at the Prendergrast house, where Jayson has discovered that Maeve has hidden the bag of money somewhere. What was it like staging that final scene with Sam Keeley and the rest of the cast?

It was exciting! I was crossing characters that I hadn’t really fully crossed over yet. We were all aware that this was the highlight of the show, and there was enormous pressure on us as we wanted to make sure we could do the best we could. We did all our own stunts, and it was so fun and challenging because I was using my body in ways I had never used before. Sam is such an intense actor and throws himself into it. It was really great to bounce on. The scene after we’re in the chicken coop and Maeve escapes and Jayson grabs her back, I really tried to run away, and he really tried to grab me, and we just kept filming because the team wanted to let the scene play out for as long as possible.

There’s a scene where Maeve looks at the money in the finale, where she says Robbie would have wanted the family to get it so they could have a better life. At the very end of the episode, Maeve and the kids are out of the house and on their way to a new destination. What do you like to imagine Maeve’s “better life” would be like?

I hope she can create a nice, comfortable environment for her and the children, and give them the life they deserve after such a difficult start. I also really hope that she can do things for herself for once, since she is so young and her entire younger years have taken on so much adult responsibility. I hope that with Robbie’s help and money she can really start thinking about herself and putting herself and the kids first, and that they can live a very comfortable life where she doesn’t have to worry.

This is your first time working with Brad Ingelsby, so if you could get to work with him again on a future project, what genre would you like to see him explore next?

I would do anything for Bram. His writing is so authentic and nuanced, and he’s just so kind. ‘Task’ is a crime show, but with love, loss, family and forgiveness, and all these relatable and intense themes, but with a lot of action, so it’s a little bit for everyone. Each character has such a layered backstory, and if another Brad Ingelsby project came my way, I would absolutely jump at the chance to work with him again.

I also heard that while you were filming “Task” in Philadelphia, you saw Olivia Rodrigo in concert with Fabien Frankel and some of the crew during your time off.

Oh my god, we did that! You know what’s sad? Mark arranged the whole concert and got everyone the tickets, and he created a group chat and said, “Guys, we’re going to meet her next,” and then he had to go to work! Mark had to go filming for ‘Task’ so everyone else got to go see Olivia Rodrigo after he literally organized the whole thing! Fabien and I got all the merchandise, and he had the purple sunglasses with the Olivia Rodrigo tour T-shirt. He’s such an Olivia fan and he sang all the words to ‘Vampire’.

“Task” is quite dark in places, so it was just so nice to go to an Olivia Rodrigo concert on the weekend and switch off during filming. It was such a wonderful experience.

This interview has been edited and condensed.