American Vandal debuted in 2017 with a story revolving around a high school student expelled after allegedly vandalising twenty-seven cars in the school parking lot. Another student realises he could not have committed the crime and sets out to clear his name through a Serial/Making a Murderer-style expose. The show became a sleeper hit and did good business for Netflix, as well as attracting surprising levels of critical acclaim, especially for the character depth the show achieved despite its goofy premise.
Season 2 aired last month on Netflix and also attracted critical acclaim, despite the premise (a laxative prank on a school with explosive results) being considerably more gross than the first season. Netflix do not release viewing figures, so it is unclear how well the show did (especially given the more unpleasant premise), but certainly the buzz it generated was notable.
However, Netflix also seem to be clearing house on shows made by outside production companies in favour of original material: it recently cancelled the Marvel/ABC-produced Iron Fist and Luke Cage despite an apparently reasonable level of success with both. American Vandal is made by an outside production company, with Netflix preferring to bring more shows inhouse (especially given its two original big hits, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, are ending shortly). American Vandal also gained critical praise at the expense of Netflix Original 13 Reasons Why, particularly for its more realistic depiction of teenage life.
This does mean that American Vandal could be saved and moved to another service: reportedly other streaming services - likely Amazon Prime Video and Hulu - are interested in picking up the show. More news as we get it.
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