Ricky Gervais says season two of After Life ‘should be the best’

After Life has proved a huge success for the comedian

Love him, hate him, wish he'd stop trolling people on Twitter; you cannot deny that Ricky Gervais continues to strike a chord with the general public. His most recent effort, Netflix dramedy After Life, provoked a huge emotional reaction from viewers when it debuted at the beginning of March. Season two is on the cards, with Gervais currently busy at working putting things together on the writing front. As such, he's been talking up his new baby in a lengthy conversation with Deadline, where the 57-year-old says he's at the first draft stage of penning the second season, which he's holding up to the highest standards. "It's incredible to be going into a second season with all the love for the first," he said. "You shouldn’t go into anything again if it isn’t at least watched and liked. But this has been extraordinary, I must admit. "I did finish the first so that it could be the only series. I always do that, in case I die tomorrow," Gervais added. "So I did it with The Office and with Extras. There’s always an ending. But as soon as you know you’re going to do another one, that’s not the ending anymore. It becomes a cliffhanger. That’s so lovely as well." As for those high standards, Gervais reckons that the second series of anything "should be the best" and thus is doing his utmost to deliver. "You’ve put all your eggs into one basket, you think, but how well do you know someone after three hours?" he mused. "With a second series, you know who you’re writing for. You know what worked and what didn’t. It’s like having six goes at a pilot in the first series, so that first episode of series two should be like fucking hitting the ground running. "I think I’ve also got the best cast of any comedy/drama in history. It’s incredible. And they’re all coming back. It’s just so much fun once you’ve already set up the world. It’s all set up for you." You can read the full interview here.