American Rust (TV series)

American Rust is an American crime drama television series created by Dan Futterman based on the 2009 novel by Philipp Meyer. The series premiered on September 12, 2021, on Showtime. In January 2022, the series was canceled after one season by Showtime. In June 2022, the series was revived for a second season by Amazon Freevee. The second season was released on March 28, 2024 on Amazon Prime Video.

Premise
Set in a small Rust Belt town in Pennsylvania, chief of police Del Harris takes on an investigation when the son of the woman he loves is accused of murder.

Main

 * Jeff Daniels as Chief Del Harris
 * Maura Tierney as Grace Poe
 * David Alvarez as Isaac English
 * Bill Camp as Henry English (season 1)
 * Julia Mayorga as Lee English
 * Alex Neustaedter as Billy Poe
 * Mark Pellegrino as Virgil Poe
 * Rob Yang as Deputy Steve Park
 * Kyle Beltran as Detective Ramon Fisher (season 2; guest season 1)
 * Luna Lauren Velez as Detective Angela Burgos (season 2)

Recurring

 * Dallas Roberts as Jackson Berg
 * Clea Lewis as Jillian
 * Nicole Chanel Williams as JoJo
 * Federico Rodriguez as Alejandro
 * Caitlin Cavannaugh as Joelle
 * Tom Pecinka as Nate
 * Christopher Denham as Russell Wolfe (season 2)
 * Marc Menchaca as Vic Walker (season 2)

Production
In November 2017, a television adaptation of American Rust was ordered to series by USA Network. The pilot episode was written by Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman, and Philipp Meyer, and to be directed by David Gordon Green. The series was scrapped on January 25, 2018, after having trouble finding a leading actor for the show.

In July 2019, the adaptation was recommissioned by Showtime, to be written by Dan Futterman and starring Jeff Daniels as Harris; they both also serve as executive producers. In March 2020, Maura Tierney, Bill Camp, David Alvarez, Alex Neustaedter and Julia Mayorga were cast as series regulars. In March 2021, Mark Pellegrino joined the cast in a series regular role, while Dallas Roberts, Clea Lewis and Nicole Chanel Williams were cast in recurring roles.

The series was filmed in and around Pittsburgh. On January 25, 2022, Showtime canceled the series after one season. On June 9, 2022, Amazon Freevee picked up the series for a second season. The second season began shooting in Western Pennsylvania in November 2022 and completed in May 2023.

The second season, subtitled American Rust: Broken Justice, was released on March 28, 2024 on Amazon Prime Video.

Reception
American Rust has received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 26% based on 31 critic reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "American Rust's tale of America lost is a worthy one, but despite an A-list cast it simply does not have the narrative clarity or heft necessary to do its subject matter justice." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Based on three episodes for review, Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave it a "C" grade, writing "There's a lot not to like about Rust, a dreary, well-acted, badly written chunk of misery porn" and that "the dialogue is all flatly expository". Handlen concluded with, "American Rust likely has a story worth telling, and a setting worth exploring, but this version fails to make much of a case for either."