Jeff Daniels & Maura Tierney Break Down Grace’s Feelings For Del In American Rust Season 2

All ten episodes of American Rust: Broken Justice drop on Prime Video on March 28, picking up four months after the events of the season 1 finale. The show’s most recent installment saw Del and Grace’s relationship deepen after the police chief took drastic measures to protect Grace’s son from life in prison. While her feelings appear genuine, whether Grace manipulated Del to help Billy was a legitimate question to ponder during the season’s final moments.

Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), who plays Del, and Maura Tierney (ER), who plays Grace, both feel that the romance between their characters is authentic. Although Grace previously asked a lot of her love interest, Tierney states that season 2 will portray the couple in a different light. They will be a much-needed pillar of support for one another, as the new batch of episodes see their lives become increasingly complicated.

Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney chat with Screen Rant about their characters’ intentions, the failed union vote, and Del and Grace’s relationship in American Rust season 2.

Del Will Need To Atone For His Actions In American Rust Season 2

Screen Rant: Jeff, Del has good intentions, but he could be facing serious repercussions for his actions last season. What can you tease about his storyline in American Rust season 2?

Jeff Daniels: It’s how far will someone go for love, which is kind of Del’s motive behind a lot of what happens in season 1. Grace and Del are semi-together in the start of season 2, so it looks like the dream is sort of coming true. But Del has got to atone for something that happened because of him in season 1 that has to do with the Pittsburgh Police Department. So he’s kind of dropped himself back into Pittsburgh. Season 2 starts about four months after season 1, but we pick up where we left off in a way. Season 2, especially, we make you chase us. The story just starts rolling pretty quickly in season 2.

Maura Tierney: I think it’s funny. We’ve been doing some press today and people are often like, “Del always has the best intentions, and Del always means well.” People don’t say that about Grace. [Laughs] She means well, but then something happens. I think it’s funny. She might mean well. But it’s a general consensus that Del means well.

That actually ties into another question I had, because I’d say Grace does mean well. She’s being a mother to her son, and she’s a mother scorned. Is there anything you can say about what her relationship with Billy will look like in season 2, given everything they’ve been through?

Maura Tierney: I think she has a lot of outrage at the beginning of the season about the way he’s been treated by the system. She really wants some revenge for that on his part, but he doesn’t have that kind of vengeance. He just wants to move on. So I think she, as a mother, has to negotiate. She can’t feel all his feelings for him. She can’t demand he feels the same way that she does. So she has to make some adjustments in order to keep him in her life.

Grace And Del’s Romance Will Feel More Genuine In Season 2

Grace also went through so much work to try and form the union, but the vote didn’t pass. Is that a storyline that will continue in season 2, or was that the end of it?

Maura Tierney: Absolutely not. Grace is never picking up a needle again. She’s not gonna soe anymore.

Jeff Daniels: You do take some extra work.

Maura Tierney: Oh, I do. But yes, she sort of just walked away from that job.

I also want to ask you both about the romance between your characters. It’s definitely complicated. Do you think their relationship is genuine?

Maura Tierney: In my opinion, I think that Grace’s feelings are legitimate. This season it felt like she just doesn’t need so much from him. So the question of “Is she manipulating him because she needs something from him, or does she really care about him?” becomes less in the forefront of their relationship. She has nothing to gain by pretending to love him in season 2. That is my feeling, or how I approached it.

Jeff Daniels: I think it’s simple. Del isn’t going to the local tavern and picking up women on the weekends. He doesn’t know how. But here’s someone who he can’t get out of his mind. And in season 1, we kind of start to flirt with the idea of us, and then her husband comes back into the picture. We have the scene where Del is going, “Yeah, okay, I get this,” and slams the door and drives away.

There are trust factors that go into Del a little bit with her. But by the end of season 1, it is genuine. There is kind of a, “Alright, we’re moving past that, and now it’s us.” He buys in, she buys in, and then we go into season 2 with, hopefully, again, this dream coming true, and then things get even more complicated.

About American Rust: Broken Justice

American Rust: Broken Justice takes us back to the fictional small town of Buell, Pennsylvania. Del Harris (Daniels) and Grace Poe (Tierney) try to rebuild their lives after the harrowing events of Season One. Season Two picks up with a string of seemingly unrelated murders, hinting at a much larger conspiracy that threatens everyone in this small, tight-knit town.

Based on Philipp Meyer’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name, the first season of American Rust premiered on Showtime, exploring the tattered American Dream in a Rust Belt town in southwest Pennsylvania through the eyes of police chief Del Harris. Harris becomes compromised when the son of the woman he loves (Tierney) is accused of murder, and he is forced to decide what he’s willing to do to protect him.

Check back soon for our other interviews with the American Rust: Broken Justice cast:

• Mark Pellegrino & Alex Neustaedter
• Julie Mayorga
• Luna Lauren Velez & Rob Yang
• Dan Futterman & Adam Rapp