He recently confirmed that there will be a third series of After Life thanks to its popularity on Netflix.
And Ricky Gervais appeared to be in good spirits as he stepped out in north London on Thursday.
The actor, 58, kept it casual in a grey sweatshirt which he paired with baggy jogging bottoms and black trainers.
Dressed down: Ricky Gervais, 58, looked to be in good spirits as he stepped out in north London on Thursday
He wore his dark hair slicked back and was sporting his signature facial stubble.
The sitcom writer finished the look with mirrored sunglasses before giving a brief glance toward the camera.
Gervais appeared to be on his own as he made the most of the good weather amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Understated: The actor kept it casual in a grey sweatshirt which he paired with baggy jogging bottoms and black trainers
It comes just days after Gervais confirmed that there will be a third series of After Life thanks to its popularity on Netflix.
He delighted fans as he took to Twitter on Wednesday to make the announcement.
Speaking about the show, he wrote: ‘Because so many of you watched #AfterLife2 so quickly and made it Number 1 again, the nice people at @Netflix have suggested that I get off my fat a*** and do another season. This is all your fault.’
Hooray! Ricky Gervais has confirmed that there will be a third series of After Life thanks to its popularity on Netflix
Ricky also told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I was planning to retire soon and just wander around the house drunk until I die, but I’ve grown a bit tired of doing that during the lockdown, and also Netflix made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.’
Fans were quick to react to his post and share their delight over a third series after season two was met with applause.
One person wrote: ‘Please do. Sobbing then laughing can be so cathartic. Just gets better and better.’
A different fan put: ‘It is such a great show!!! Fabulous cast! Fabulous story!’
In the making: The actor, 58, delighted fans as he took to Twitter on Wednesday to make the announcement
Excited: Fans were quick to react to his post and share their delight over a third series after season two was met with applause
While a third follower commented: ‘Our plan has succeeded! Get to work Ricky!’
Earlier this month Gervais, who stars in the show as grieving widower Tony Johnson, had hinted at the possibility of a third instalment after saying he was inundated with emotional messages from fans.
The writer said that he was met with unanimously glowing responses from viewers after the second series aired.
Addressing fans in a Twitter livestream at the time, he said: ‘I’d love to do a season three – I’ve got ideas for it. It looks like it’s going to go down a storm, so if this reaction carries on then yes.’
You never know: Earlier this month Gervais, who stars in the show as grieving widower Tony Johnson, had hinted at the possibility of a third instalment after being inundated with emotional messages from fans
However Gervais admitted the enormous success of the show has put him under greater pressure to keep raising the bar.
He said: ‘The better it goes down the worst it is for me, you can do something f***ing amazing, and everyone goes, “Oh god, it’s the best thing ever, 10/10.”
‘But if you do something else that is 9.5/10 people are like, “It’s f***ing awful, this is the worst show on television,” so that’s what goes through my mind.’
Success: The writer said that he was met with unanimously glowing responses from viewers after the second series aired
Gervais has previously enjoyed tremendous success with The Office and Extras, but has never produced more than two series of any show, opting instead to bow out before the format grows old.
The star recently admitted he receives many letters from grieving widowers and is approached by fans on the street because of After Life.
The show portrays Gervais a suicidal local journalist struggling to cope with the loss of his wife Lisa to cancer.
Enthusiastic: ‘I’d love to do a season three – I’ve got ideas for it,’ he told fans in a Twitter livestream
Burden: However Gervais admitted the enormous success of the show has put him under greater pressure to keep raising the bar
Speaking to Radio X’s Danny Wallace, he said: ‘I’ve never had a reaction like it. And I don’t just mean the size of the reaction, as that could be a reflection of the fact Netflix has 170 million subscribers worldwide, which is mind-blowing really when you think about It, and everything’s on social media now so you hear about it…
‘But it was the emotional response. My agent on the first week got 300 letters. Now that is really rare, where people are bothering to write letters, and they were telling their own story, so it wasn’t a tweet, it wasn’t a thumbs up.
‘And people come up to me on the street. Usually it’s “I loved the show,” or “Give it to them at the Golden Globes” and now they come up and approach me and say, “I lost my brother three weeks before I watched it” and you think, “Oh my god. Everyone’s grieving.”‘
Emotional: The show portrays Gervais a suicidal local journalist struggling to cope with the loss of his wife Lisa to cancer
He added: ‘Everyone in the world is grieving about something all the time and the older you get the more you’ve got to grieve about. And I really didn’t think of it as a document about grief.’
The show’s second series, which was released last month, shows Tony trying to move on with his life as he progresses though the seven stages of grief.
Gervais said a line from the second series has become even more poignant in the wake of the pandemic which has taken hold after the show stopped filming.
In a flashback scene, Tony’s wife Lisa, played by Kerry Godliman, says how everyone has their own problems and we should value NHS workers.
In his Radio X interview, Gervais also revealed he cast After Life before he ever started writing it.
He said: ‘Luckily I’ve got a slight advantage that I cast this [After Life] before I wrote it, so I knew exactly who I was writing for so I imagined everything in my head, but I hadn’t worked with Penelope Wilcock before, who’s amazing.’