Ricky Gervais already has ideas for a second series of 'After Life' but gave the new show an ending just in case fans don't love it.
Ricky Gervais
The sitcom, which is released on Netflix today (08.03.19), sees him play Tony, a suicidal man who responds to the loss of his wife of 25 years by opting to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he wants with no inhibitions.
Asked if he would like to make a second series, Ricky told the Series Linked podcast: "I'd love to. Just in case, I always do my first series of anything that it could be a standalone thing.
"But I've really fallen in love with the characters and I think it'd be a waste not to do a second series now.
"And the second series could be the best, because you can hit the ground running. You've done all the set up.
"You know that people you know the characters now, so you can delve deeper into things without having to do the admin of explaining stuff. So the second series can be the most joyful to write and watch."
Quizzed on whether he had some possible storylines for a second run, he added: "There are ideas, yeah, there are. You can't help those, but you've got to curb them in case.
"If no-one likes it and Netflix say, 'We've wasted millions on you, Rick,' but, secretly, yeah, I would love to do a second series."
The 57-year-old star looks set to have plenty of time to pen a second series if Netflix approve, because he doubts he will ever retire.
He added: "I probably won't retire in that sense [stop work completely], but I might be settled more in one place."
But the animal lover - who worked with a dog in numerous 'After Life' scenes - wants to live in a house with big grounds that welcomes all sorts of stray creatures great and small.
He said: "My idea would be to live in a big house with big grounds and have every stray dog and everything's welcome, disabled wallabies, blind hedgehogs, do you know what I mean? Flightless crows, welcome.
"I look like Noah. I think Noah was 900 when he built the ark, so, yeah. And me at 60 will probably resemble him."
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