After Life 3: Ricky Gervais Explains Roxy's Absence In Season Three

After Life season 3 features neither Roisin Conaty's sex worker Roxy or Mandeep Dhillon's publishing intern Sandy, but why?

Well, creator and star Ricky Gervais explained everything during his exclusive chat with Digital Spy, revealing exactly why the two were absent.

"Mandeep couldn't do it because she was filming, so I'd sort of written her bit and I had time to change them. With Roxy we thought there wasn't quite the story there. It's you know, it's a mutual decision, I didn't write them out," he explained.

Related: Why there'll be no After Life season 4 and what Ricky Gervais has planned next

"That was fine because Roxy wasn't in it much, you know, so I got around that with giving the story sort of through [Pat] the postman [played by Joe Wilkinson]. But Sandy I had time to rewrite it, write her out and put Colleen in her place," he revealed.

Nothing in the way of drama, then.

As for Gervais himself, the acerbic comedian weighed also recently in on why he's ending After Life with its third season.

"The reason I said it is definitely the end is so I'd be bullied and made fun of for going back on it. It's a no-brainer I should do a fourth, I should do it in terms of economics and the audience would love it, everything points towards it except would series four be as good as the first three and actually better because it's no good for it to be just as good?" he told Deadline.

"I don't want it to outstay its welcome."

Related: Netflix unveils new look at Ricky Gervais'After Life season 3

Detailing how things have changed production-wise since season 2, he went on to share that the latest episodes are "slightly grander", noting: "It's got more of an elegance, it's got the pace of a drama more than a comedy, so you can explore more."

Gervais continued: "The world is bigger; The Office is set in one place, Derek is set in one place, the world is bigger and people come and go. It's more like a Springfield, where there's 80 characters in The Simpsons that can have their own episodes."

After Life is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.

Shop for Netflix e-gift cards

Shop at Amazon

Orange is the New Black - Seasons 1-6

Shop at Amazon

Netflix/Left Bank Pictures The Crown season 3 with Amazon exclusive box artwork

Shop at Amazon

Marriage Story

Shop at Amazon

The Crown - Seasons 1 & 2

Shop at Amazon

House of Cards - Season 6

Shop at Amazon

Grace and Frankie - Seasons 1-2

Shop at Amazon

The Irishman

Shop at Amazon

Black Mirror - Series 3

Shop at Amazon

Narcos - Seasons 1-3

Shop at AmazonDan Seddon

Reporter, Digital Spy

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

Tilly Pearce

Freelance writer, Digital Spy Tilly is Gold-Standard NCTJ accredited journalist with eight years of experience in entertainment journalism.

She has been heard giving her insight on the latest TV stories on BBC Radio across the country and on BBC News.

Previously working with The Sun Online, Yahoo, Metro.co.uk and Independent IE amongst others, she joined the Digital Spy team from 2021-2023 as Deputy TV Editor (Maternity cover).

With a speciality in TV drama and true crime, Tilly has been praised for her exclusive content with A-list stars ranging from Sir David Attenborough to the lawyers behind Making A Murderer.

She’s happy to report her mum now takes her seriously as a journalist as she got to interview George Clooney once.