‘American Vandal’ creators line up esports mockumentary series at Paramount Plus

Fans of the Netflix gone-too-soon Netflix series American Vandal know that the creators took great lengths to make each season of the mockumentary series feel painstakingly authentic to the tropes it was trying to mimic. Now, co-creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault plan to take that same style to Paramount Plus for a faux-documentary series about the world of esports.

Per Variety, the series, called Players, will follow a fictional League of Legends team as it attempts to win its first championship following a series of setbacks and close calls. The focus will be on a 27-year-old veteran and a 17-year-old rookie who need to find a way to work together in order to succeed.

Yacenda, who is coming off of a directing role with the FXX comedy series Dave, will direct the show. Both Yacenda and Perrault will also executive produce the series, along with Joe Farrell and Mike Farah of Funny or Die, Tim McAuliffe, Riot Games, 3Arts’ Ari Lubet, and Brillstein Entertainment Partners’ Todd Sellers.

American Vandal achieved cult status in its first season as a little-seen but much-discussed mockumentary that turned an incident involving penis graffiti into an operatic crime drama worthy of deep exploration. The second season (which, in some ways, was even better IMO) followed the aftermath of a high school mass pooping incident in much the same. Both seasons revel in the tropes of the crime drama-documentary style but also include plenty of introspection and character development that elevated them from being mere spoofs. Given that, it should be fun to see what they can do with the world of esports.

[Variety]