American Rust: Broken Justice is a TV crime drama that straddles a storytelling line. On one hand, the Prime Video drama picks up very close to where Season 1 left off, so there's an incredible amount of serialized drama. On the other, there are new characters and new crimes set up that are meant to push Del Harris and his fellow protagonists forward. That creates an interesting conundrum: how do you keep telling stories that started in the past, while also wanting to look ahead to the future?

Series producers Adam Rapp and Dan Futterman joined CBR to speak about their storytelling process going into American Rust Season 2. They also gave their thoughts on Philipp Meyer's book and moving away from the novel in the second season. The entirety of American Rust: Broken Justice is now streaming on Prime Video.

He's such a complex character.

CBR: When you got the opportunity to do American Rust Season 2, where was the hook for you? What was important or exciting to come back to about these characters?

Dan Futterman: I personally was most looking forward to in a season to seeing how Jeff Daniels' character Del Harris was going to pay penance for what he felt he did wrong in the first season. He's such a complex character. He feels a desire to make good on his word to Grace [Poe], and then he feels a desire to right what he feels are wrongs that he did. And so he ends up going in the second season back to Pittsburgh -- to the place that he left to come to Buell -- and he puts himself in harm's way. Exploring that felt really rich to me, and we had a lot of discussion in the writers' room about that.

There are many grey areas to look into.

CBR: Where were the challenges for you in that writers' room, having established the characters and the world in Season 1 and now expanding the story in American Rust: Broken Justice?

Adam Rapp: The biggest challenge on this project has been trying to maintain our rich character development with the different speed that we're taking in Season 2, which was a joyous challenge. These characters are so rich -- Philipp Meyer's characters that were created, and some of the ones that we created alongside them, are complex and nuanced. There are many grey areas to look into. Having that be dramatized with a slightly faster pace, with a slightly more crime-riddled season, was a challenge and a pleasure.

I'm excited for viewers to see that twist, to be surprised by it, and to be excited at where it's going to lead in the rest of the season.

CBR: What would you consider one of the highlights of Season 2?

Futterman: There's a twist that happens in the first episode that sets up a great deal of the season. I'm excited for viewers to see that twist, to be surprised by it, and to be excited at where it's going to lead in the rest of the season. We kick off the second season very quickly, get a lot of story running, and then it takes a real left turn that I think is unexpected. I think viewers are gonna be excited by that.

Rapp: One of the things I'm excited about [in Season 2] is Billy [Poe]'s storyline. There is a quest he gets on, and it's a very exciting thing to watch. I think it's also mysterious -- and when it gets revealed, I think it will be very satisfying.

I recommend all of it. People [should] read the book, watch the first season, and watch the second season.

CBR: What was your take on Meyer's book American Rust, and how did you adapt it to the screen? Especially in Season 2, where you then had to move beyond the novel's plot?

Futterman: American Rust is a beautiful book; anybody who has not read it should read it. It's really terrific. It opened up this whole world of imagination for Adam and for me in this fictional town of Buell, which is south of Pittsburgh. We were both excited by that and supporting that, and telling the story that Philipp told, while also veering off from it in particular ways.

A second season has been released from [the storyline of] that book, and we're on a new chapter. It's got a new title, and it's on a new network, and it has a very, very different feel from the book and from the first season that we made. I recommend all of it. People [should] read the book, watch the first season, and watch the second season.

American Rust: Broken Justice is now streaming on Prime Video.