Ricky Gervais, Netflix Set Cast For New Comedy Series

Ricky Gervais has finished casting his new original Netflix comedy series After Life, which will feature plenty of well-known British actors to support the former Office star.

According to Deadline, the main cast will include Penelope Wilton (Doctor Who, Downton Abbey); David Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones); Ashley Jensen (Extras); Tom Basden (Plebs); Tony Wray (Edge of Tomorrow); David Earl (Cemetery Junction); Joe Wilkinson (Him and Her) and Kerry Godlin (Derek). Mandeep Dhillon, Jo Hartley, Rosin Conaty and Diane Morgan, who all worked with Gervais on David Brent: Life on the Road, will co-star.

Chordle previously reported that production started in June in London. Arthur Smith said he is playing Gervais' brother-in-law.

"I'm playing Ricky's character's brother-in-law. It's really interesting. It's quite dark," Smith told Radio 4 of the new show.

"This cast combines the best of the new breed of great British comedy talent with some of the wonderful alumni of my previous shows," Gervais said of the cast.

On June 8, Gervais also tweeted a photo of the first production meeting.

"The title of my new show After Life has nothing to do with ghosts or Heaven, by the way. It's about how someone deals with life after the death of the person they love," Gervais tweeted.

"Even though #AfterLife will be about twice as long as my #Humanity special, I only charged Netflix the same fee. That's the kind of guy I am," he joked in another tweet.

After Life was created by Gervais, who will also star, direct and executive produce. He will play Tony, who starts out with a perfect life. Everything is turned upside down when his wife Lisa suddenly dies. At first, he thinks about killing himself, but decides against it. Instead, he will tell everyone exactly what he thinks of them and everyone learns he is not the nice person they thought he was. It sounds a bit like The Invention of Lying, the 2009 movie Gervais co-wrote and co-directed that centers on a world where no one can lie.

Chris Hanson, who worked on Extras and Derek with Gervais, is also an executive producer. After Life's first season will include six half-hour episodes.

This is Gervais' latest collaboration with Netflix. In 2016, the streamer released his film Special Correspondents and his The Office spin-off David Brent: Life on the Road. Netflix also released Derek, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination and two Emmy nods.

Netflix also released his 2018 special Ricky Gervais Humanity and users can stream Extras and the original U.K. version of The Office.

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