Warning: contains spoilers for After Life season 3
After Life season 3 is another audience hit for Ricky Gervais and Netflix, though making season 4 would be a mistake given the story’s perfect ending. Ricky Gervais often balances his sense of humor with dramatic and emotional themes, and After Life showcases both in equal measure. The ending of season 3 concludes the show in the right way, and a fourth season could easily outstay its welcome.
After rigidly sticking to his “two seasons and a special” rule for The Office, Extras, and Derek, Ricky Gervais broke his TV series rule for After Life, feeling that there was more story to tell. The show centers on Gervais’s Tony, a recent widower morning the passing of his wife Lisa. After Life explores Tony’s grief and depression, along with suicidal feelings, before finding ways to live again. Season 3 ends at the town’s annual fair. Tony has spread kindness to those around him (that he isn’t annoyed by anyway), and, smiling over memories of Lisa, leaves the fair. With Brandy the dog beside him, he walks hand-in-hand with Lisa’s ghost. As the seasons change around them, Lisa fades, as does Brandy, leaving Tony alone, before he too fades away.
Viewers have interpreted the ending in different ways, though Ricky Gervais has said the final shot of After Life season 3 is meant to convey a positive message of life continuing, rather than implying that Tony takes his own life. Indeed, his revelation that “Caring about stuff, that’s what really matters. Kindness… making other people feel good” is beautifully poetic when mirrored with his mission to punish the world back in season 1. His newfound purpose, along with the little salute he gives to Lenny, is the perfect way to bring his arc to an end. He’s not over Lisa, and never will be, but seeing life going on around him brings him as close to contentment as he can get. Extending After Life‘s story beyond this with season 4 would be a mistake. In order to give After Life season 4 any dramatic weight, Tony would have to regress back through the stages of grief, both covering old ground, and undoing the perfect ending to the story.
Ricky Gervais’s critics have been less kind to the latest season of After Life, though it has once again been embraced by audiences. While there are several high points (including its ending), the third season does dedicate a lot of its runtime to its ancillary/minor characters. After Life‘s eclectic cast of characters generates plenty of laughs, but giving them the spotlight so often steers the story away from Tony at some points. Continuing this trend into season 4 would risk further dilution of the main themes of the story.
Ricky Gervais’s track record shows he knows how to end the stories he tells. While he’s arguably been overly generous with After Life season 3 compared to his previous work, he’s brought Tony’s arc to a satisfying end. While speaking to BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne, Gervais said that After Life season 4 would be “a no brainer” in terms of economics and the audience, but didn’t want the quality to drop or for it to outstay its welcome. Given that he’s managed to give After Life the perfect ending, hopefully, he won’t be tempted to undo it.
After Life season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
