Warning: Contains SPOILERS for After Life season 3
Ricky Gervais has found recent success with his black comedy After Life on Netflix, but the show’s snub of prominent character Roxy for season 3 was a major insult. While the comedian has had a hand in numerous successful sitcoms over his career, After Life is a different beast entirely, blending Gervais’ signature cynical style of comedy with a poignant, emotional story. One of After Life‘s biggest draws is its lovable cast of characters, made up of an impressive array of British comedians and comic actors.
One such comedian is Roisin Conaty, who played Roxy – a sex worker and close friend of Gervais’ Tony in seasons 1 and 2. However, Roxy is conspicuous by her absence in After Life season 3 and is only mentioned in passing by other characters. While After Life season 3 breaks some Gervais traditions, this is one decision that’s something of an insult.
Gervais has since explained Roxy’s absence, revealing in an interview with Digital Spy that he “thought there wasn’t quite the story there“. He went on to add that it was “a mutual decision“, and that he “didn’t write [her] out”. However, despite this explanation, Roxy’s treatment is ultimately not just an insult to one of the series most significant characters but also serves to undermine her role in the previous two series. After developing a relationship with Tony in season 1, and then with Tony’s postman Pat in season 2, it seemed that Roxy would be heavily involved with season 3’s story. However, somewhere between seasons 2 and 3, Roxy and Pat’s relationship has soured, and Conaty’s character is only referenced in exchanges between Pat and Tony. After Ricky Gervais responded to After Life‘s critics about Roxy’s absence, the insult was made all the more clear.
Reducing such a prominent character to a punchline isn’t something that feels overly organic, but Gervais’ explanation that there was no story to tell simply isn’t true. Roxy was a sympathetic ear for Tony throughout seasons 1 and 2, and their friendship played an important part in his journey. Conaty’s role being reduced to an off-screen character that serves as the butt of numerous jokes at the expense of sex workers is in direct contrast to the interesting and unexpectedly layered character she was in previous seasons.
While many consider After Life among Gervais’ best TV series, his snubbing of such a prominent character for season 3 is difficult to ignore. Conaty hasn’t yet spoken out about her absence from the latest season of the Netflix show, so Gervais’ claims that it was a mutual decision are yet to be substantiated, but it’s a blatant snubbing of a promising character nonetheless. And, as Ricky Gervais has said season 3 of After Life will be the last, it’s possible that its Roxy insult will never be remedied.
