For actor Jeff Daniels, Showtime’s filmed-in-Western-Pennsylvania “American Rust” (10 p.m. Sunday) is more than another role. It’s the fulfillment of an idea he had more than a decade ago to adapt the 2009 Philipp Meyer novel of the same name into a filmed project after Daniels’ agent (now his manager) took him to a reading by Meyer in New York City.

“I wasn’t in a position to make something that I wanted to do (then),” Daniels said during a Zoom interview last month. “Not until ‘Newsroom’ was I able to do that kind of thing. But then after ‘Newsroom’ and ‘Godless’ and ‘Looming Tower,’ my agent said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and I said, ‘Well, there’s this book …’”

Daniels enlisted writer Dan Futterman, who was also the writer/showrunner on Daniels’ 2018 Hulu miniseries “The Looming Tower,” to read the “American Rust” novel to see if he could tease out a story for TV. Futterman signed on to adapt Meyers’ book and found a home for the project at Showtime, whose top executive at the time, David Nevins, has Western Pennsylvania ties: His father, Louis Nevins, grew up in Kittanning, where his great-grandfather, also named Louis, operated The Arcade department store in the 1800s. As a child, Nevins often visited Kittanning to see his grandparents, Charles and Ruth Nevins.

Daniels, who previously filmed the 1989 CBS TV movie “No Place Like Home” in the Pittsburgh region, stars in “American Rust” as Del Harris, police chief of Buell, Fayette County, and his complicated relationships with the citizens of his town, including Grace Poe (Maura Tierney), whose son, Billy (Alex Neustaedter, “Colony”), is coming off probation when the series begins.

Daniels said he recognizes Del from his days growing up in Michigan.

“Detroit is not that different from Pittsburgh,” Daniels said. “I grew up working class. I worked at my dad’s lumber company and I know those guys. I was one of those guys. I am one of those guys. I came from those guys and now I’m playing one of those guys.”

Showrunner Futterman said he opted to avoid having the actors use a Pittsburgh accent in part because among local actors in the series he noticed “everybody has a different accent, everybody talks differently, so it felt like the best thing to do is have Jeff tap into his Midwest roots and bring that to the show.”

Futterman praised local actors in the cast, including Bill Laing, who plays Rylan; Patrick Jordan, who plays a bank rep/auctioneer; and Tammy Wyatt, who plays Grace’s oddball co-worker, Lisa.

“I would love to bring them back,” Futterman said, “and if we get a second season, we’ll figure out how.”

Locations used by “American Rust,” which was based at 31st Street Studios in the Strip District, include Carrie Furnace, Big Rock Park in New Brighton, McConnell’s Mill and Moraine state parks in Portersville, SCI Pittsburgh and SCI Greensburg and assorted locations in Braddock, Clairton, Oakdale, Apollo, Allison Park, Eighty Four, Ambridge, Perryopolis, Monessen, Glassport, Belle Vernon, Glenshaw, Donora, Harmony, Sewickley, Penn Hills and Vandergrift.

Grace’s trailer exterior and the interior and exterior of Del’s cabin were both built on land at Churchhill Crossings.

“It was so important to shoot it in Pittsburgh and Southwest Pennsylvania,” Daniels said. “The land is as much a character as any of us, and just the way we were able to point the camera — whether it was Carrie Furnace or where you’ve got this train going through the middle of the hill on the other side of the river and all the bridges, you can’t build those sets. They’re unique to that corner of the country, so it was really important that we got in and shot all the hollers and all the towns that had been abandoned and the good people that were still there that just come on bad luck and bad times and were trying to fight their way towards decency. That’s a lot of what the show is about: Good people trying to survive.”

Unlike Daniels, co-star Tierney (“ER,” “The Affair”) had never been to Pittsburgh prior to arriving in March 2020 for “American Rust” only to be sent home when the pandemic hit, returning to film a year later.

“It was a great vibe on set, however, the crew was masked all day,” Tierney said. “Normally you would go out for a drink on a Friday or for dinner and there was none of that.”

Tierney said a scene with Alex Neustaedter, who plays her character’s son, included a hug.

“He was like, ‘That is the weirdest thing, I haven’t been hugged in (a long time),’” Tierney said. “In some ways the loneliness of covid and the anxiety of covid, you’ve got to come to set and bring that with you. I think that might have informed my performance.”

Tierney said she lived in the Strip District before moving to the North Side. She mostly ordered take-out meals as a covid precaution – Chengdu Gourmet in Squirrel Hill was a favorite – but she did run along the river.

Daniels said he was aware of social media chatter that preceded “American Rust” production about his resemblance to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

“As doppelgangers go, that was a pretty good one,” Daniels said, noting he got to meet Fitzgerald, who visited the set toward the end of production.

In success, “American Rust” is envisioned as a multiple-year series that could be back in Western Pennsylvania to film a second season. The nine-episode first season ends without tying up all the story’s loose ends.

“It’s definitely a ‘what the hell is going to happen next?’ Daniels said of the first-season finale. “It’s not a cliffhanger. It’s a cliffhanger with a ramp and Evil Knievel was firing up the motorcycle to jump it. How the last episode ends, you want the second season to start the next morning.”

For those without a Showtime subscription, the first episode of “American Rust” is available for free viewing on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=72JR2c2SrkM until Jan. 15.

Channel surfing

WTAE’s “Chronicle” returns with a new installment, “Remembering 9/11” (8 p.m. Friday), featuring anchors Michelle Wright and Mike Clark returning to Somerset County where they broadcast from two decades ago. … “Inside the NFL,” formerly on Showtime, has relocated to streaming service Paramount+ … Former NFL player Akbar Gbajabiamila has joined CBS’s “The Talk.”

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