Discover The Best Movies and TV Shows Like American Vandal

At Hanover High School, a scandalous crime occurs when twenty-seven faculty cars are spray-painted with giant phalluses. Dylan Maxwell, an impulsive, unpopular senior and chronic prankster with a history of drawing crude sketches, is quickly accused and expelled by the administration, largely due to prejudice against his low social standing and juvenile behavior.Unconvinced of Dylan’s guilt, high-achieving sophomore Peter Maldonado and his ambitious audio-visual partner Sam Ecklund decide to launch a true-crime documentary series to investigate the incident. Motivated by a desire for objective truth and skepticism of the faculty's swift, self-serving judgment, Peter and Sam begin meticulously interviewing witnesses, reenacting timelines, and analyzing forensic evidence. Their investigation quickly exposes deep fractures within the seemingly idyllic suburban high school.The duo uncovers a complex web of teenage social hierarchies, secret hookups, and digital surveillance. They evaluate various suspects, including the arrogant student body president Alex Trimboli, who claims to have seen Dylan committing the vandalism. However, as the meticulous documentarians probe deeper, Alex’s alibi begins to unravel. The student investigators discover a clandestine caste system driven by jealousy, insecurity, and social media influence, revealing that Hanover High is a pressure cooker of hidden resentments.Concurrently, Dylan struggles with the emotional fallout of the expulsion. Despite his crass demeanor, his profound loneliness and desire for acceptance emerge, turning his fight against the administration into a desperate bid to reclaim his identity.As the documentary progresses, Peter and Sam pivot away from Dylan as the culprit and focus on the logistical impossibility of him acting alone. They eventually unmask the true perpetrator: a student driven by a toxic mix of unrequited love, social ambition, and a desire for infamy, who meticulously framed Dylan to protect their own reputation. The revelation shatters the student body, exposing the dark side of teenage culture and digital-age cruelty.In the second season, Peter and Sam take on a bizarre new mystery at St. Bernardine, a Catholic high school plagued by a serial criminal known only as "The Turd Burglar," who is contaminating school lemonade with human feces. Motivated by their journalistic integrity and a thirst for uncovering systemic failures, the duo navigates a strict, image-obsessed religious institution. They expose the toxic culture of the elite basketball team, where hazing, immense pressure, and institutional complicity drive a desperate student to commit the abhorrent acts. Through rigorous inquiry, Peter and Sam humanize the perpetrator while exposing how institutional hypocrisy creates the very monsters it condemns.