Warning: spoilers ahead for American Vandal Season 1! Read ahead at your own risk!
With the recent release of American Vandal, Netflix's true crime boom has come full circle. Expertly deconstructing a genre made popular by shows like Making A Murderer and podcasts like Serial, the mystery of the 27 penises spray-painted onto cars at Hanover High School has turned into one of Netflix's most delightful comedies -- and the folks behind the true crime spoof are not done yet. In fact, American Vandal co-creator Tony Yacenda recently opened up about the future for the show's potential second season and teased that Peter Maldonado and his crew could move on to a brand new mystery. Yacenda said:
I think it's safe to say that Peter and Sam would make a documentary in a different high school and in a different environment, for a different crime.
So instead of diving back into the realm of Dylan Maxwell (22 Jump Street actor Jimmy Tatro) and the quest to find the truth behind the dicks, it looks like Peter Maldonado and his crew will pull up stakes and move to tackle another crime altogether. The rationale for going with this anthology-esque format seems to be a desire to stick with the conventions of "real" true crime stories, which similarly don't offer definitive answers. Heading back into that same crime and starting to focus on the possible guilt of Christa Carlyle would feel a "little disingenuous," so the better option is to start fresh with a brand new mystery for our characters (and the audience) to dive into.
At this stage, there is no shortage of ways for American Vandal to evolve as the show progresses. Per Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda's comments to EW about the series, the popularity of the true crime genre has only gone up in recent years -- and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. They have also made no secret of the fact that they want to switch up the structure of the show in Season 2 -- possibly even echoing the format changes that Making A Murderer plans to make in its own second season.
If you have kept up with CinemaBlend's coverage of American Vandal, then you likely already know that this development has us very excited. The mockumentary (although it's not mocking as much as its paying homage) series has captured the imagination of the internet, developing numerous fans since its debut last week as much for its clever 8-episode mystery as its ample use of dick jokes. The show is a rare combination of smart satire and juvenile humor, and we cannot wait to see where it goes from here. As long as Dylan appears in some capacity (even if he's not a suspect), we will be happy.
American Vandal is now available to stream on Netflix, and we will bring you more information related to Season 2 as new details become available to us. As for the rest of this fall's major premieres, take a look at our comprehensive fall TV premiere guide to keep yourself in the loop on anything and everything debuting in the next few months!
