With After Life season 3, a long-standing Ricky Gervais tradition is about to be broken. The first season of After Life attracted a teary-eyed but wholly positive reaction on Netflix, and the recent second run has been afforded similarly glowing praise, swimming scene aside. The sitcom stars Gervais as Tony, a depressed widower who was on the verge of suicide, but found the strength to keep going due to the kind efforts of his workmates, his postman and a prostitute (sex worker). After Life season 2 ended with Tony almost taking his own life again, but he was interrupted by the arrival of Emma, with whom Tony has developed a close relationship.
When it comes to sitcoms, After Life is definitely not Gervais' first rodeo. The British comedian has been involved in the creation of The Office, Extras, Life's Too Short and Derek, all of which attained some level of success, whether mainstream or cult following. While those 4 shows all encompassed different styles of comedy, they share one common feature: their length. The Office ran for 2 seasons and a 2003 Christmas special and Extras followed exactly the same structure. Life's Too Short only lasted for one season and a special, but wasn't as strong in terms of ratings, and Derek reverted back to the standard '2 seasons and a special' format Gervais is familiar with. The comedian even referenced this during one of his Golden Globes stints, jokingly ribbing Steve Carell and the US version of The Office for quantity over quality.
Unusually, however, After Life appears to be breaking away from that tradition. According to a report from Deadline, Gervais has signed a new deal with Netflix that includes another full season of After Life. The continuation of After Life perhaps doesn't come as a surprise given season 2's success and semi-cliffhanger ending, but many were likely expecting the announcement of a one-off special to wrap up Tony's story, keeping to Gervais' usual formula. Instead, fans look to be getting a fully-formed third season of bittersweet, side-splitting heartache.
With After Life's renewal, why is Gervais willing to stretch to a third season of After Life when his previous works, some of which were undoubtedly more successful, were kept surprisingly brisk? Ricky has previously explained that his intention is to leave viewers wanting more, while also closing out a story before it inevitably begins to run out of steam, as so many popular sitcoms have done. This has typically worked for Gervais; while his shows have certainly faced criticism, none have been accused of declining as they progressed. Viewers either love them straight away or hate them from start to finish. Discussing a potential third season of After Life, however, Gervais claims that the surface has only been scratched on the various quirky residents of Tambury thus far, and while Tony's story clearly has more to reveal, so do the lives of Sandy, Matt, Kath and more.
And Gervais certainly has a point. After Life has been a fairly slow burn compared to The Office or Extras, ensuring Tony's grief is properly explored rather than rushed to a happy ending. As such, there's more scope to explore in a third season of After Life than there was for Andy Millman or David Brent after their respective second seasons. Moreover, After Life season 2 left so many plot lines unresolved that it would be almost impossible to cram everything into a Christmas special, especially since a man on the edge of taking his own life isn't exactly traditional festive viewing. Aside from Tony's own recovery, After Life's second season only touched briefly on Kath's quest for love, Sandy's troubled home life and the difficult romance between Tony and Emma. That's more than enough material for another 6 episodes, and Tony's story would wrap up far more naturally with those additional hours. Now all that's needed is a full backstory for Ratty and The Nonce.