Ricky Gervais Strikes Overall Deal With Netflix As ‘After Life’ Comes Back For Season 3

Peter White
·2 min read

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Ricky Gervais has struck an overall deal with Netflix as the streamer brings back comedy After Life for a third season.

The Office creator will develop new scripted projects for the digital platform as well as stand-up specials as part of the multi-year deal.

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This comes after the launch of season two of the British comedy.

Set in the small, fictitious town of Tambury, the comedy-drama series follows Tony (Gervais), a writer for the local newspaper whose life is upended after his wife dies from cancer. In series 2, Tony tries to become a better friend to those around him while still struggling with his own grief. Each character is grappling with their own problems and that’s only intensified by the looming threat of the local newspaper being shut down.

After Life is a Netflix original series from Derek Productions. The six-part series is created, written and directed by Gervais. Charlie Hanson is producer and Gervais and Duncan Hayes are executive producers.

Last month, Gervais told Deadline that he might break his record of two seasons and done, as has been the case with all of his other scripted projects. “I could see myself doing a third season for the first time ever, because I love the world. There are so many strong characters. I’d say there are six characters that could have their own sitcom; that could be the lead in a sitcom. Even the place is a character, I think. We’ve only seen five hours of all those people. That’s nothing. How well do you know someone in five hours? You know, it’s still only half a season of an American sitcom, if you count both seasons,” he said.

“I haven’t run out of ideas, though, because we haven’t gone in depth with a lot of these characters. You can keep twisting the knife. It’s the tip of the iceberg. It’s like, imagine you moved to a town and you’ve met a few people. You’ve spent five hours there. You don’t go, ‘I think I know everything about this town,’” he added.

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