10 Biggest Changes American Rust's Show Makes To The Book

May 10, 2024, 3:20 p.m.

Movies

10 Biggest Changes American Rust's Show Makes To The Book

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Summary American Rust season 1 stays faithful to the core story but takes creative liberties for a new, compelling narrative.

Character names are changed for a fresh perspective, like Bud becoming Del, adding a different dynamic to the show.

The show diverges from the book to set up multiple seasons, expanding the world of American Rust for future episodes.

American Rust season 1 is based on the book of the same name by Philipp Meyer, and while there are ways in which the TV show is faithful to the novel's story, there are also noticeable changes. Any good screen adaptation of a book has to take some creative liberties because translating a written story into a visual medium can be difficult. Most of the core features of the story remained, like the main characters and the murder, but other than that, the show took the book and created something entirely new.

Additionally, part of the reason season 1 differed so strongly from the source material was so the show would be better set up for multiple seasons.

The American Rust season 2 ending leaves room for multiple seasons in the future, effectively expanding upon the world from the first season. This was a challenge, as there's only one American Rust book, so season 2 had to extrapolate an original story after the cliffhanger ending of season 1. Additionally, part of the reason season 1 differed so strongly from the source material was so the show would be better set up for multiple seasons. Making the project a full show instead of a miniseries meant that the plot of Meyer's work wouldn’t be followed as closely.

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10 Bud's Name Is Changed To Del

Jeff Daniels' character and the Chief of Police

Any hard-hitting mystery series about middle America must include a hard-nosed police Chief or Detective who's willing to bend the law to align with what he thinks is right. In the case of American Rust, this is Bud Harris in the novel and Del Harris in the show. This is a strange change to make, as Bud and Del are similar names, both are one-syllable and are plausible for a man of his generation to have. Audiences who didn't read the book would never notice this change, but it's an immediate indicator that the show will be different.

Bud does feel like a more friendly and kind name than Del, and it quickly becomes clear that this man isn't the hero of the story.

Making Daniels' character named Del might have been an attempt to shake off any overt stereotypes about middle America. Though for the most part, American Rust doesn't shy away from capitalizing on these archetypes. Bud does feel like a more friendly and kind name than Del, and it quickly becomes clear that this man isn't the hero of the story. In the book, this juxtaposition is obvious, but for the series, they might not have wanted to risk confusing the audience.

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9 Lee Lives In Connecticut

She remained in Connecticut after college instead of going to New York

Isaac's estranged sister, Lee, pretends to be an outsider when she returns to Buell, the town the story is set in. However, she really has strong ties to Buell because of Isaac and their father, Henry. Not to mention her previous romantic relationship with Billy, Isaac's friend and former high school football star. However, Lee is the character who escaped Buell, going to college at Yale and on track to become a lawyer. In the book, when the characters catch up with her, she's living in Connecticut.

However, the series chose to have her and her new husband, whom she met at Yale, live in New York City. It's true that New York is a more glamorous and exciting setting for a character to be from. It makes her seem like she's hit a new social stratification and shows how desperately she wants to prove she's changed. Lee is an interesting member of the American Rust cast and characters, and placing her in New York gives her more power and more to lose.

8 Isaac's Journey West

Train hopping across the county and following a man called the Baron

Believing he's capable of more, Isaac skips town with money he stole from Henry, his father, and convinces Billy to come with him for a while.

Though it turns out Isaac is ultimately responsible for the murder in both the book and the show, his attempts to leave Buell and pretend this part of his life didn't happen are vastly different. Believing he's capable of more, Isaac skips town with money he stole from Henry, his father, and convinces Billy to come with him for a while. When their lives are forever changed, Isaac decides to keep moving and get across the country quickly. However, this journey is very different in the show.

For one, Isaac is a more significant character in the book, and it switches to his perspective more frequently than in the series. Additionally, he mostly travels by train hopping, and while doing this he meets the elusive character, the Baron. The Baron is left out of the show, and this is probably for the best as he would've been another complex character the story didn't have time to juggle. Instead, he meets Jojo, a young woman who's a better influence than the Baron.

7 Lee & Billy Immediately Rekindle Their Relationship

Which is part of the reason Isaac decides to leave

Though there's obviously tension between Billy and Lee throughout all of season 1, they're much quicker to consummate the relationship in the book than in the series. Certain plot elements were added across the board in American Rust, and the wedding in episode 2 when Billy and Lee spend more time together was one of them. In the book, Lee arrives not long after Isaac and Billy get into trouble, and Isaac overhears the pair taking comfort in each other. While this happens in the show, it's more pronounced in the book.

This is uncomfortable and strange for Isaac, as he's consumed by the guilt from the act of violence he just committed. Isaac and Lee have a particularly strained relationship because he resents her for leaving Buell and making it his responsibility to take care of their father. Realizing that he can't rely on either Billy or Lee, he goes through with his plan to escape. However, Billy refuses to name Isaac as the killer when talking to the police.

6 Billy & Grace Leave Town

The book doesn't end on a cliffhanger

One of the questions American Rust season 2 answered was Billy's fate after falling into a coma in prison. Much of the novel's story and the show's is about Billy's experience in prison and his brutalization while there. He's forced to choose sides and asked to hurt others, and when he refuses, it's his life that's on the line. At the end of American Rust season 1, he's still in a coma and the audience has no idea whether or not he'll pull through. This is especially upsetting because his name has been essentially cleared at this point.

After this, Billy wakes up from his coma and he and his mother, Grace, decide to leave town for good.

Conversely, the book neatly ties up the narrative and lets Billy and Isaac both escape clean from the murder. Del/Bud takes care of the witnesses, leaving no one able to testify against either of the young men. After this, Billy wakes up from his coma and he and his mother, Grace, decide to leave town for good. When they briefly return at the very end, they find their trailer burned down, indicating that in Buell, if the law doesn't do its job, the people will take matters into their own hands.

5 Isaac Is Forced To Come Home After Being Robbed

The Baron is what sends him back to Buell to confess

After being on the road for a long time, things aren't working out for Isaac the way he thought, and it's not easy to forget that Billy is serving time for the crime he committed. However, in the book, he gets an even bigger motivator to go back, when the Baron steals all the money Isaac has. With nothing left to do and nowhere to turn, he takes this as a sign that he must do the right thing and turn himself in.

Since the Baron isn't in the show, this aspect of the story could never have happened, and the series doesn't spend a lot of time on Isaac's decision in general. This anticlimactic decision coincides with the fact that when Isaac returns, Del has taken care of everything, and he's advised to keep his mouth shut. Isaac's life gets to go back to normal, but after everything he's experienced, nothing will ever be the same.

4 Del/Bud Doesn't Shoot Bobby's Cousin

Del eliminates the witnesses, but there's someone hidden in the show

He doesn’t just want to help Billy and Grace but takes pleasure in dolling out justice as he sees fit.

Much of the story is predicated on Del’s willingness to bend the law for Billy because he's in love with his mother, Grace. This motivates him to hide evidence and eventually murder the witnesses of the murder in cold blood. However, it soon becomes clear that Del is a corrupt man. He doesn’t just want to help Billy and Grace but takes pleasure in dolling out justice as he sees fit. The climax of the show and novel is his murdering the witnesses, but in the book, it's only two men.

Being the Chief, this works out seamlessly for him, and everyone gets to move on with their lives, even if it's in a dirty and dishonest way. This is compounded in the show, and left open-ended, by having Del shoot someone who wasn't at the crime scene, and just happened to be in the house. Del shoots one of the witnesses' cousins, an older woman where they're staying. He dispatches her as well, so there are no witnesses to his murders, but it makes it more difficult to stage.

3 Billy & Isaac Don't Start The Fight At The Rail Yard

They happen upon a group of young men by accident

Since the American Rust show doesn't have the luxury of being inside the characters' heads like the books, sometimes the story must push the plotlines further and make actions more extreme. This occurs at the story's beginning when Billy is accompanying Isaac to the rail yard to say goodbye and see him off. They stop to rest and run into the men who pick a fight with them. Isaac backs out of the scuffle and leaves the abandoned building in both versions, but returns when he worries about what will happen to Billy.

Billy drags Isaac into the building after seeing the ex-cop whom he had a conflict with go in there, creating higher stakes in the show. Again, Isaac is hesitant to follow but ultimately does because of his friendship with Billy. Though the outcome is the same, and someone ends up dead because of Isaac and Billy, the subtle changes shift the dynamic between the men, altering how the audience sees them. From the start, making Billy the aggressor positions the audience to be more suspicious of him.

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2 The Murder Isn't Of An Ex-Cop

Pete Novick was invented for the TV show

The man that Isaac kills in the book is not an ex-cop. This makes the entire story more contained, ensuring the conflict will be wrapped up by the novel's conclusion. However, the show needed to raise the stakes and introduce outside characters to provoke Del's increased involvement in the story. Pete Novick is who Billy follows into the building at the rail yard because he was the police officer who detained Billy a few months before after he got into a public fight. Provoking Novick was a terrible idea on Billy's part.

Isaac’s connection and love for Billy are also more prominent in the show, creating another source of drama.

More people than Del are interested in the outcome of the case and want to get to the bottom of Novick’s killing. It seems that American Rust wanted to tackle corruption in the police force through someone other than Del and wanted to make Isaac’s actions more understandable. Isaac’s connection and love for Billy are also more prominent in the show, creating another source of drama. Additionally, season 2 is set up for greater success if the murder is of a higher profile.

1 Del/Bud Is Less Of A Protagonist

Isaac and his journey are the most important part of the book

Isaac is the undeniable of the American Rust book, and his travels are what drive the story more than the murder mystery back home. The book's biggest themes are about feeling trapped in a small town and being trapped by circumstances no matter how much the characters try to escape. By making Del the primary protagonist instead of Isaac, the story falls into a familiar pattern and draws comparisons to detective shows. Conversely, the book’s true intention is to examine interpersonal dynamics and the nature of rural America.

Daniels is a strong actor and is capable of carrying a show, but it's not surprising that it took so long for season 2 to get announced, considering how many shows are about older white men solving crimes. Looking at the story from Isaac's point of view, and the whole cast as an ensemble would have been more interesting for contemporary audiences. Despite this, American Rust season 2 drives the story forward and progresses interestingly after the season 1 finale.