By Lacy Baugher for Comedy on April 17th, 2019

Netflix Renews 'After Life' for Second Season

Ricky Gervais and Penelope Wilton in "After Life" (Photo: Netflix)

It's official: Ricky Gervais' Netflix black comedy After Life will be back for Season 2. 

The series follows the story of newspaper journalist Tony (played by Gervais), a man who once had a perfect life, but who's now struggling to cope following his wife's death from breast cancer. The widower contemplates suicide, but instead decides to reinvent his life - and punish the world - by becoming the sort of man who says and does anything he wants. He sees his brutal honesty as a superpower of sorts, and something that protects him from the pain of caring about others the way his formerly nice guy persona did. 

(Spoiler alert: The entire premise of this series is basically about Tony learning he's wrong, in case you didn't know.)

“I have never had a reaction like this before. It’s been insane. And heartwarming,” Gervais said in a statement. “But now I have to make sure the second season is even better so I’ll probably have to work much harder than usual. Annoying really.”

Gervais has had slightly nicer messages for fans on Twitter, however, whose enthusiasm for the show seems to have really struck a chord with the actor. 

Thanks for all your lovely comments, reviews, blogs, podcasts and fan art for #AfterLife. Oh, and thanks for all the photos of your pets watching it too. pic.twitter.com/k4Tnr9CBK8

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) April 17, 2019

Season 2 of After Life will also be comprised of six episodes and will once again be written by Gervais himself. (He's actually already started writing it.) Unfortunately, however, we're unlikely to see the new season before some point in 2020, so settle in for a bit of a wait. 

"After Life has moved audiences from laughter to tears around the world and we are thrilled to announce that Ricky Gervais will be back with a second season on Netflix," said the company's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "We are so proud to play host to Ricky’s brilliant stand-up comedy, specials, original films and series and join in the joy of the fans with his latest hit.”

Have you watched After Life yet? Thoughts on it getting a second season? Let's discuss in the comments. 

By Lacy Baugher for Comedy on April 17th, 2019
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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