Canceled Netflix Show Could Be Saved: 'American Vandal' Season 3 Gets Promising Update

CBS Studios is reportedly considering reviving 'American Vandal' for a third season following its cancellation at Netflix in 2018.

By Allison Schonter

More than six years after it was axed at Netflix, the acclaimed mockumentary series American Vandal could return to the screen. Following a successful two-season run on the streamer, the series was canceled in 2018, but there is renewed hope for American Vandal Season 3 after CBS Studios recently regained rights to the show.

Speaking to Deadline about "streamers' growing appetite for broadcast-style procedurals," CBS Studios President David Stapf teased a future for American Vandal. Stapf said, "We're exploring that, we loved that show and that title." However, things for American Vandal are still a bit murky, with Stapf noting that "there's nothing imminent, but we hope to bring it back in some fashion at some point."

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(Photo: Scott Patrick Green / Netflix)

Among the first original series CBS Studios produced for Netflix, American Vandal was a spoof of true crime documentaries that followed high schoolers Peter and Sam as they investigated bizarre crimes, including penises painted on the cars of faculty members at a Southern California high school and, in Season 2, investigating who spiked the cafeteria lemonade with laxatives. Starring Tyler Alvez and Griffin Gluck, the series was a massive success and currently holds a 98% critics score and 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the show's success, Netflix announced in October 2018 that American Vandal was canceled after just two seasons. In a statement at the time, the streamer said, "we're very grateful to the creators, writers, cast and crew for bringing their innovative comedy to Netflix, and to the fans and critics who embraced its unique and unconventional humor."

In the years since the show's cancellation, hope has remained that American Vandal would one day return to TV screens. Speaking to PopCulture.com back in 2020, series star Griffin Gluck teased, "Oh yeah, there's definitely hope for [American Vandal]."

He added that in the time since the show concluded, he had remained in contact with series writer and director Tony Yacenda, writers Dan Perrault, Dan Lagana and other "showrunners, directors, writers, creative directors" and "producers," adding, "we have stuff in the works for Season 3. Before we got canceled, they had a whole synopsis, the whole plot, [and] some parts of the script laid out.

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More recently, Yacenda told Entertainment Weekly in 2023 while speaking about the show's legacy, "we know what our third season would be and where the series would go." He noted that the series was "somewhat evergreen, so we could kind of hop back into it whenever the timing felt right, and if we felt like there was an audience that was clamoring for it. But the answer is that we do have a game plan that we're very excited about."

While there are currently no concrete plans for American Vandal to return, fans can binge the first two seasons on Netflix.

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