When "American Rust" showrunner Dan Futterman says that Season 1 of his western Pennsylvania-filmed Showtime series went from "5 miles an hour to 90 miles an hour" during its final few episodes, he's putting it mildly.
The show's first season concluded Sunday night with some characters in places they'll be hard-pressed to come back from in a potential Season 2.
In retrospect, it's a testament to the "American Rust" creative team that what started off as a plodding, methodical season of television could switch to a series of such madcap developments across its final few episodes.
Spoilers ahead — obviously — if you haven't finished Season 1 yet.
To recap:
—Buell police Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) is now responsible for a triple homicide, and one of his officers, Steve Park (Rob Yang), seems suspicious.
—Del was presented with compelling evidence by Virgil Poe (Mark Pellegrino) that Grace (Maura Tierney) may have burned down her own home.
—It looks like Billy Poe (Alex Neustaedter) might be exonerated in the murder of Pete Novick. But that didn't stop his fellow prison inmates from beating him to a pulp. He was left in a coma with his mother, Grace, by his bedside.
—Isaac English (David Alvarez) is back in Buell and has presented Del with what appears to be the wrench used to kill Novick. Del told him to put it away and apparently is now protecting Isaac as well.
—Lee English (Julia Mayorga) decided to stay home and take care of her ailing father Henry (Bill Camp), who then appeared to attempt suicide so as not to be a burden to her and his family.
There's clearly a lot of meat left on the bones for a Season 2 of "American Rust." While Showtime hasn't made an official announcement regarding the show's fate, Futterman did say that a Season 2 writers' room has been formed to explore how this story can be continued.
"While Showtime doesn't understandably lay all the money on the table and say, 'We're making this, 100%,' the plan is that hopefully the scripts and story turn out in a way that make all of us happy, Jeff and Maura are happy, and hopefully we get to make a second season," Futterman said.
Here's what else he had to say about the first season of "American Rust."
(The interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q: So, now that the whole first season is completed, did it come together the way you thought it would when you started shooting?
A: We had a really clear idea of where we wanted to end up. It in many ways follows the [Philipp Meyer] book and in many ways diverges from it. But we had a clear idea of where we wanted to end the story and characters. I'm really happy with how it all turned out, both from a directorial standpoint and all the actors are terrific.
Q: How does Del come back from everything he did in the finale? Or does he?
A: That's the question. That's what was fascinating about bringing him to that point, that he spent so much time trying to outrun his past and maybe make amends in certain ways for what his past has led him to do in the Army and Pittsburgh PD. As we all know from our own lives, it can be very hard to escape your past. What does that do to him? Does it break him finally? Does it turn him into a different kind of person? That all remains to be seen.
Q: I was not expecting Grace to go full Lady Macbeth on Del. How much fun was that for you to watch play out?
A: [Maura is] [expletive] great. She dove into that in such a powerful way. Jeff is incredible as well. It's in this instance where she becomes the really active one. She makes that decision about every part of her life. I think what [Maura] came to realize is that the most important thing to Grace in her life is her son, period. The focus of her performance on that is really powerful.
Q: It's wild that Virgil somehow ended the season being more likable than Grace. How do you feel about pulling off that trick?
A: He's the kid who never grew up. If he ever grows up, he's going to grow up kicking and screaming into adulthood. But he's not there yet. A question remains with him, which is, if presented with the opportunity to actually change something, what would he do? Because he's never taken that responsibility for himself. That's something I would love to explore.
Q: So now Del is protecting both Billy and Isaac. Was that last scene a sign that he'll no longer be under Grace's spell, or is he just too far gone to let justice play itself out at this point?
A: We were trying to put Del in the position of, he performed the perfect crime, and yet the Pittsburgh PD has come back for him, and yet Isaac has made this crazy decision to return. There are these loose ends that he did not anticipate having. How is he going to deal with the consequences of these loose ends? That's the position we wanted to put him in in the end. The vise is tightening on him from all ends.
Q: The English family is so close to reuniting and yet has never been farther apart. What's next for them?
A: Between the siblings, there are a lot of unresolved issues there. Lee came back under duress, Isaac left under duress and they never got to work out the issue of Lee leaving Isaac to shoulder the burden of their ailing father. She went to pursue her dreams while knowing this would affect Isaac's ability to do that. Whether she was sending Isaac money or not, she had to know what personal responsibilities Isaac would feel. That's unresolved, and whatever's happening with Henry, they have a lot of stuff to deal with between the two of them.
Q: Billy might never be the same after what happened to him in the finale. Any thoughts on where he could go next?
A: One thing that interests me about these relationships is in a way, the most pure relationship is between Billy and Isaac. They went through this really traumatic experience together and yet they each proved to value the other one more than they valued themselves. There's something really powerful about that. You don't see that from many friends in your life. You don't see that very often.
Q: What are you most excited about exploring going forward?
A: Having hit 90 miles an hour, what do you do? If we get to do a season two, where do you start? That's a creative question that really interests me, both in terms of where to start with the characters and story, and from a bird's-eye view in terms of pace. That's something I'd love to have the opportunity to figure out.
Q: Any last words for western Pennsylvanians now that the first season is all out there?
A: I hope we get to make a second season, and we would 100% make it back in Pittsburgh. It became abundantly clear to us while we were making this that there's nowhere else we could've shot this because there's nowhere else I've been to that's like it. There are so many arresting images of nature, industry, broken industry, the city all packed up against one another. It's very hard to find that anywhere else, and it's had to our minds at least a real effect on the region. And that's what we're trying to explore in this show.
