Actor Jeff Daniels is set to produce and star in Rust, an upcoming Showtime series following a family suffering from a “tattered American dream.”

The drama had been on ice until Daniels moved in to produce the series. Originally entitled American Rust, the series is based on the novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer, according to Variety.

It’s described as following a family whose lives are impacted by dismal economic times in a Pennsylvania Rust Belt city. The family is to be led by a “compromised” police chief whose loyalty to the law comes into question when his girlfriend’s son is accused of murder.

Along with The Newsroom star taking the helm, the series will be executive produced and written by Dan Futterman. The pair last collaborated on the 2018 Hulu miniseries, The Looming Tower, about the FBI and CIA’s pursuit of terrorists in the years leading to 9/11.

The series was initially ordered by the USA Network but the project was shelved in January before Daniels came on board.

“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.”

Daniels has also been busy of late denouncing President Donald Trump, the man whom USA Today argues won in 2016 thanks to Rust Belt voters. The Dumb & Dumber star exclaimed that if Donald Trump wins re-election in 2020 it will be “the end of democracy.” He also slammed all of Trump’s voters saying that they only reason they support him is because of their racism.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.