TV Talk: ‘American Rust’ season 2 set largely in Pittsburgh

For its second season, the filmed-in-Pittsburgh drama “American Rust” moves from Showtime to Amazon’s Prime Video. The show’s setting also shifts.

In its first season “American Rust” was set almost entirely in fictional Buell, Fayette County, but for the second season, the show splits its time between Buell and Pittsburgh, where former Buell police Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) has rejoined the Pittsburgh Police Department.

“To bring Del Harris back into the Pittsburgh PD as a detective raises the stakes in his life,” said Adam Rapp, co-showrunner of season two with fellow executive producer Dan Futterman.

“It also gives a really cool visual counterpoint to Buell, to what his cabin is in the country. And we get a larger scope of visuals and also just a different texture.”

Season one exhausted the story from the 2009 Philipp Meyer novel it was based on, necessitating that Rapp and Futterman create Season Two’s story on their own. Streaming all 10 episodes March 28 under the title “American Rust: Broken Justice,” Season Two moves at a much faster pace.

“In two we’re making you chase us,” Daniels said in a recent Zoom interview. “In one we took the time – and got slapped around for it – to shoot a novel with a beginning, middle and end. In the first three episodes (of season one) to make you care about those six people, you have to take the time to do that. We had to set everybody up, which I’m glad we did. Also, there’s a pace to small-town Pennsylvania. It’s not big city. It’s not Pittsburgh. It’s slower there and I thought we were true to that.”

Futterman and Rapp said they approached Season Two as a thematic follow-up to the events of season one that saw Del cover up a murder for the benefit of suspect Billy Poe (Alex Neustadter), son of his love interest, Grace Poe (Maura Tierney). It turned out it was Billy’s best friend, Isaac English (David Alvarez), who killed a crooked cop in defense of Billy.

“Season One is all about what this man will do for this woman at all costs. His love is so great for her he winds up crossing over to the dark side,” Rapp said. “Season Two is more about how people can find absolution for their sins. Can they restore justice for themselves, for their soul, for their community in some way? Can Del correct the mistake he made and can he live with himself?”

Futterman teased Grace’s arc for season two, saying, “Those for whom favors were done in the first season, they are looking for ways to repay those favors in the second season and often get themselves in trouble.”

“American Rust” again made its home at 31st Street Studios in the Strip with Duquesne City Hall on South Second Street in Duquesne serving as the Fayette County Courthouse. Other filming locations included Aspinwall Riverfront Park, Bryant Street Market in Highland Park, Elizabeth Pharmacy in Hazelwood, Highwoods Cemetery in Woods Run and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary played the role of fictional Roarke College.

In addition to more Pittsburgh, season two of “American Rust” has a more lived-in vibe as characters name-check or visit locations familiar to Pittsburghers: Primanti Bros., Dee’s Café on the South Side, IC Light, Lombardozzi’s Restaurant in Bloomfield and the Vintage Grand Prix in Schenley Park all get audio or visual shout-outs. Station Square’s The Grand Concourse plays itself. Max’s Allegheny Tavern on the North Side gets a cameo.

That greater attention to regional specificity comes from producers filming and living in Pittsburgh during production of the show’s first season.

“There’s a lot of fun mom-and-pop stuff that comes out of Pittsburgh,” Rapp said. “We wanted to make sure we were being authentic and it helped to have a great crew and a lot of local members of the crew that could help us through that.”

Rapp, who previously spent time in Pittsburgh when his 2004 play “Gompers” had its world premiere at City Theatre on the South Side, said, “It was just fun for me to get to know the greater parts of Pittsburgh that I didn’t know before and I think fun for all of us.”

Just don’t expect to hear a Pittsburgh accent.

“That’s trickier because then you’re asking actors to do something that’s actually quite difficult and if they screw up then we look really bad,” Rapp said.

Daniels praised the Pittsburgh crew on “American Rust” and the local actors hired.

“We used a lot of local Pittsburgh people, certainly on the crew, which was top-notch. I told them at the end of season two [they were] as good as any crew I’ve been with,” Daniels said. “But also the actors: We brought in a lot of local hires. That can be a little dicey sometimes, but every single one of these folks came in ready with a plan, they were good on take one.”

Among those Pittsburgh-based actors were two who returned from Season One. Bill Laing played the owner/bartender Rylan in season one. In season two he’s sold the bar to Virgil Poe (Mark Pellegrino, “Lost”) but Rylan still drinks there and his role expands as he becomes a suspect in one of a string of Buell murders that play a central role in season two.

Lisa Velten Smith, an assistant professor of voice in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama who played Dr. Burke in a few scenes in a season-one episode, returns as a new character in season two, a much meatier, multi-episode role as the wife of a Pittsburgh man killed by a package bomb.

“She’s an amazing local actor and we got really lucky to get her,” Rapp said.

In addition to more Pittsburgh and a faster pace, season two also allows for lighter moments, even some comedic interplay among characters.

“Some scenes I just pretended I was in a comedy,” Tierney said.

Her Grace Poe steals scenes consistently in season two. Grace was never a shrinking violet in season one but in season two her reactions become more voluble and more extreme, energizing every scene she’s in.

“I do think she’s more feisty and part of that is a reaction to the fact the primary relationships in her life are now no longer under her control,” Tierney said. “Del has left and he’s doing his work in Pittsburgh and her son has said, ‘I’m not living with you, absolutely not.’ These two guys have made some boundaries that are not easy or fun for her, so it was interesting to watch the character deal with the fact that she’s not the boss.”

As Grace’s soon-to-be ex-husband Virgil, Pellegrino also got to lean into less menacing aspects of his character.

“I found Virgil to be a more interesting character with a lot more dimension to him than I even imagined,” Pellegrino said. “Not just the comedy side of him, but the deeper side of him reconciling with his son. You don’t see that in season one where he’s more or less an adolescent 40-year-old.”

Pellegrino said even Virgil’s clothing grew with the character.

“I remember the wardrobe coordinator said, ‘He’s a peacock on a budget,’ and that’s a perfect description that we didn’t express in season one,” Pelligrino said.

Alex Neustaedter’s Billy Poe seems unburdened at the start of season two. He and best friend Isaac even have a conversation about how each of them has evolved.

“It starts much lighter and I think he feels like he has this re-found love for life again,” Neustaedter said. “It does start to shift as the season goes on and his past continues to come back into his life through PTSD flashbacks. I think the mood shifts halfway through the season when he knows he’s not going to be able to move unless he does what he needs to do to purge the past and take action.”

Former Buell deputy- turned-police Chief Steve Park (Rob Yang), who came across as a heroic check on Del’s morally gray behavior in season one, displays a heightened obsessive suspicion about Del’s involvement in a bloodbath in a West Virginia cabin that happened in the season one finale. Park even creates creepy crime scene dioramas in his basement.

“Steve as a character is your best friend but if you do something to cross him, he can be your worst enemy,” Yang said. “(New cast member) Luna (Lauren Velez) and I were just talking about how much of a weirdo Steve is and I just really love that.”

Futterman chalks up the lighter moments to this season’s quickened pace.

“We really wanted to speed up storylines and intensify a lot of the peril that the characters were experiencing,” Futterman said. “We wanted to see what it was like for [Del] to be back in Pittsburgh, which has a certain peril to him as a character and what he went through in his past there and also see what it would make people back in Buell feel: What is Grace feeling about him having (Angela Buros) as a partner? I think the pace at which this season happens has a trickle-down effect in terms of feeling a buoyancy.”

Luna Lauren Velez, best known for playing Lt. LaGuerta on “Dexter,” joins “American Rust” in season two as Angela Buros, Del’s new partner on the Pittsburgh police force. But there are significant differences between the two cop characters despite their shared profession.

“[LaGuerta] came from Cuba, got off the boat and determined to be the best she could be and thrive in this country. Everything about her was the display of her persona” including her jewelry that served as armor, Velez said. “Angela doesn’t feel the need to do any of that. She keeps everything close to the vest and at the same time is open and very approachable, but you will really never know what’s going on with her. I think that’s part of the thing she finds intriguing about Del Harris: ‘I recognize you, I know who you are. I’m very similar.’”

Season one of “American Rust” filmed early in the pandemic and cast members largely stayed in their apartments when not on set. This time the actors got out more. Several who stayed at the Cork Factory in The Strip District – a frequent residence when actors come to town to film for a finite period — said they explored The Strip or walked along the Allegheny River. Neustadter cited Applewood Smoke Burger Co. near Highland Park as a favorite restaurant, Pellegrino appreciated “how artsy” Pittsburgh is and Tierney recalled with fondness attending a Steelers game.

Daniels lived in a house on Mt. Washington while filming season two (some scenes also shot in the neighborhood, including the interior of a Pittsburgh cop’s apartment).

“I was able to look down on the skyline of Pittsburgh with the three rivers and the bridges and the lights and the hills. At night I play guitar and I wrote a song called ‘Pittsburgh looks like Paris in a Misty Midnight Rain,’” Daniels said. “Your city really looks beautiful up there. It’s not Paris but you could have fooled me.”

Daniels said he hasn’t recorded the song yet or posted it to his website, jeffdaniels.com, but said, “I should probably put it up there. That’s a good idea.”

During season one Daniels wrote a song called “American Rust” and his performance of the tune plays over the end credits of season two’s final episode.

Now the “American Rust” team waits to see if they’ll get an opportunity to pay off the cliffhanger that ends the show’s second season with a third season. Rapp and Futterman said they have not yet pitched a third season to Prime Video executives. But they have ideas for what comes next.

“So many ideas,” Futterman said.

“I have general ideas that will probably get debunked immediately,” Rapp said, “because my ideas are often the silliest ones.”