Jeff Daniels, Showtime develop Rust

US network Showtime has given a straight-to-series order to a drama starring The Looming Tower actor Jeff Daniels.

Jeff Daniels

Family drama Rust, based on Philipp Meyer’s novel American Rust, explores the tattered American Dream through the eyes of police chief Del Harris (Daniels) in a Rust Belt town in south-west Pennsylvania.

Daniels (The Newsroom, Godless) will also exec produce the series alongside Dan Futterman (Capote), who will write multiple episodes. Other exec producers include Michael DeLuca (Escape at Dannemora) and Elisa Ellis (Narcos, Hannibal).

Rust is a coproduction from Showtime and Platform One Media, the US prodco launched by Liberty Global in 2017 and led by CEO Katie O’Connell Marsh.

“Jeff Daniels is a bona fide giant on stage and screen and Dan Futterman is a special writer, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have them together at Showtime” said Showtime co-president of entertainment Gary Levine.

“With vibrant characters caught in an unpredictable murder mystery, Rust will tell the relevant and touching human story of the corrosion of the American dream.”