Ricky Gervais 'in talks with Netflix for After Life Christmas special'... after being offered 'more than £5million' to write THIRD series of drama

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He recently confirmed that there will be a third series of After Life thanks to its popularity on Netflix.

And Ricky Gervais is said to be in talks with Netflix to create an After Life Christmas special due to the phenomenal success of the show.

According to The Sun, The Office creator, 58, - who created the comedy-drama series, which he also writes, directs, and stars in - has been asked to meet Netflix bosses this month to discuss the possibility of a festive special. 

Wow: Ricky Gervais is said to be in talks with Netflix to create an After Life Christmas special due to the phenomenal success of the show 

The show portrays Gervais as a suicidal local journalist struggling to cope with the loss of his wife Lisa to cancer. 

A TV source told the website that 'everything Ricky writes turns to gold'. 

They said: 'The third series won't air until 2021 so there is a meeting in the diary to see if Ricky could create the Christmas special.

 'It would just be a stand-alone episode, p­ossibly one hour if Ricky thinks it would work.

'The only headache currently is the pandemic, but the fact that major shows like Coronation Street and EastEnders are filming again is ­giving them hope.'  

Success story: According to The Sun , The Office creator, 58, has been asked to meet Netflix bosses this month to discuss the possibility of a festive special

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Ricky Gervais and Netflix for comment.

 This comes after the comedian confirmed that there will be a third series of After Life, with the star reportedly offered more than £5million for the deal. 

But along with a third instalment of the popular show, he will also be expected to write a number of standalone comedy specials, according to reports.  

He delighted fans as he took to Twitter last month 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.'

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.' 

A source said: 'The third series won't air until 2021 so there is a meeting in the diary to see if Ricky could create the Christmas special'

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!'

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.'   

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.'

In the making: The actor delighted fans as he took to Twitter last month to make the announcement

'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.'   

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.  

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.''   

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 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.'

Sensation: Ricky shot to fame with his role as hapless salesman David Brent in iconic comedy, The Office