When it was announced American Vandal was renewed for Season 2, some fans were upset by comments made by co-creator Tony Yacenda that the new season would not pick up with the events of Season 1, choosing instead to showcase a new mystery. Audiences wanted to know for sure who drew all the penises on the cars, and now showrunner Dan Lagana has finally confirmed the actual culprit: Lagana stated that Christa Carlyle was indeed behind the lewd graffiti, and he shared how crazy the staff got just by fans asking:
It's so funny how that drove us crazy. People were like, 'You're not gonna tell us who did it?' We feel like we told you exactly who did it, and then just had Peter (Tyler Alvarez) have a moral compass at the end, saying, 'If I didn't have hard evidence, me definitively saying who did it on camera in my doc would make me no better than the school system --- but I have my theory!' It's like, that's his theory! That's who did it!
Dan Lagana's big reveal to the Vulture Fest crowd (via Vulture) is likely not too shocking to many who watched American Vandal. As Lagana points out, Peter Maldonado lays out his theory against Christa pretty clearly, but stops short of outright pinning it on her due to a lack of hard evidence. And since making unproven accusations like that against people on film hits litigious territories, this was just a fun way to avoid directly stating the answer.
Of course, this solution is not as entertaining as some of the fan theories that involve Ming Zhang and the janitor. Still, at least this will officially close the book on the fictional mystery so many wanted a definitive answer to. And maybe American Vandal's creators and producers can give their ears a rest on the complaints.
While the answer behind the dick doodler's identity may have been obvious to some, the cast of American Vandal seems to indicate many were unsure. Dylan Maxwell actor Jimmy Tatro stated that he made a few of his friends angry by not revealing the answer, although he did tell them if they watched the show completely they would understand who did it. To further drive the final nail in the coffin of this mystery: Tatro and the rest of the panel's cast and crew, all said they were 100% certain that Christa Carlyle is behind the dick drawings.
How Christa did it actually is fleshed out in American Vandal, but for those who haven't watched and just love a good spoiler, here we go. Christa, with the help of her secret boyfriend, spray-painted the dicks (with ball hairs) in an effort to get back at Coach Rafferty. Christa then accessed the footage through the school surveillance and deleted it, and Alex Trimboli mistook her boyfriend Van for Dylan. Thus, what was once merely a theory is now officially canon, and those who were left wanting answers can finally continue on with their lives.
American Vandal is currently streaming on Netflix, and Season 2 is expected to release sometime in 2018. For more upcoming programming, visit our fall premiere guide, or see what's coming in 2018 with our midseason premiere guide. For a list of shows that have gotten the ax in 2017, visit our cancellation guide.
