Alley Cats. (L to R) Ricky Gervais as Gus, Kerry Godliman as Lara, in Alley Cats. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
Ricky Gervais’ foul-mouthed adult animated series Alley Cats just dropped on Netflix, and it’s already clawing its way up the daily top 10 charts around the world. But will the feral felines be returning for a second season? Here’s everything we know so far about the renewal status of Alley Cats Season 2 on Netflix.
Alley Cats is the new 2D animated sitcom created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais, alongside co-director Elliot Dear and animation studio Blink Industries. Released globally on Friday, August 7, 2026, the six-episode series reunites the “Avengers of British comedy” (including much of the After Life cast) to voice a clowder of British strays who spend their days scavenging for scraps and philosophizing about the absurdities of human life.
Has Netflix renewed Alley Cats for Season 2?
Official Renewal Status: Pending (Last updated: August 10, 2026)
As of right now, Netflix has not officially greenlit Alley Cats for a second season. Given that the series only just debuted on the platform, it’s still very early days for a renewal announcement. Netflix typically waits about a month to gather viewership data—specifically looking at completion rates—before making a final decision.
Unlike some other adult animated shows on the platform that receive massive multi-season upfront orders, Alley Cats was ordered for just its initial six 15-minute episodes. As we previously reported from the Annecy Animation Festival back in June, Gervais noted that viewership would dictate whether the show gets a Season 2.
The good news? It sounds like Gervais is more than ready to keep the feral fun going. He has repeatedly expressed how much he loves the animated format, joking that “the cats aren’t going to age as I just get older and fatter. I’m going to just sit in a chair and make this forever.”
Also at Annecy, Ricky Gervais jokingly praised Netflix in the hopes it earns some brownie points, “I should just say how great Netflix has been because I want a second series. I love working with Netflix; it’s so great for them to do this.”
Alley Cats. (L to R) Ricky Gervais as Gus, Kerry Godliman as Lara, in Alley Cats. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
How is Alley Cats performing on Netflix?
If Gervais’ recent YouTube Live broadcast is anything to go by, Alley Cats is already a roaring success.
Streaming live on Sunday, August 9, Gervais gleefully revealed to fans that Alley Cats had hit the number one spot on Netflix over its debut weekend. “I have never been this happy,” Gervais shared, admitting that the milestone nearly brought him to tears. The comedian confessed he initially had doubts about the show’s mainstream appeal, assuming a fringe series entirely centered around swearing cats wouldn’t even crack the top 10.
His optimism is backed by the numbers, at least in part. According to early FlixPatrol data, since its premiere on August 7, the series has pawed its way into the daily top 10 charts in over 40 countries. Unsurprisingly, the British comedy is performing best on Gervais’s home turf. In the United Kingdom, the show debuted at #2 on Saturday before climbing to the coveted #1 spot on Sunday and Monday. The series is also proving to be a massive international hit, holding steady in the top 3 in countries like New Zealand, Hungary, Jamaica, and Ukraine, and cracking the top 5 in regions spanning from Australia and Finland to the Bahamas and Luxembourg.
Interestingly, while the show boasts a wide global footprint, it hasn’t quite found its footing in the United States just yet. It briefly appeared on the US top 10 chart at #7 on Saturday before dropping off on Sunday and Monday. Still, with such a dominant presence across Europe, Oceania, and beyond, Alley Cats is posting quite strong international numbers for an animated launch.
Picture Credit: FlixPatrol
What Ricky Gervais has said about the future of Alley Cats
If you ask Gervais himself, the feral fun is just getting started. During an extended first look at the Annecy Animation Festival earlier this summer, Gervais made it abundantly clear that he is already eager for a Season 2. Despite the show’s hefty amount of expletives and Netflix explicitly marketing it as such, Gervais actually pushed back on the genre tag, stating to the crowd, “I don’t even like the term ‘adult animation’… This is a sitcom.”
During the recent press tour leading up to the release, Gervais reiterated his immense affection for the project and its characters. Making an appearance on BBC One’s The One Show on August 6, Gervais shared, “I just want people to love these cats and root for them”. He emphasized how crucial it was for the entire cast to record their lines together in one room to capture the authentic, overlapping group banter that drives the series’ unique energy. Later, on an episode of This Morning, the comedian and the hosts discussed just how much his own real-world personality aligns with his cynical feline counterpart, Gus.
The only hurdle for Season 2 might be the grueling production process for his crew. Gervais joked during his Annecy panel that his hyper-specific animation notes, like demanding tiny adjustments to a cat’s eyebrow or tail, probably drove a “sweatshop of 60 people” completely crazy. He also gave a hilarious, self-deprecating shoutout to the show’s editor, Rachel Brennan, who had the monumental task of taking hours of the cast’s overlapping, improvised audio and magically cutting it down into cohesive 15-minute episodes.
What to expect from Season 2 of Alley Cats
If Netflix does pull the trigger on Season 2, we can absolutely expect the core cast to return. That means more unhinged, overlapping banter from Gervais as Gus, Tom Basden as the middle-class pet Ponce, Diane Morgan as the dim-witted Olive, Andrew Brooke as the tough-guy Fang, and David Earl as the downright disgusting Puke. We’d also expect to hear more from Kerry Godliman as Gus’s love interest, Lara.
The first season found its emotional core by having the gang help a lost kitten, culminating in Gus stepping into a reluctant father-figure role. The finale wrapped up its central arc with the gang successfully finding the lost kitten’s (Jo Hartley) home, only for her to decide (after her owners replaced her) she’d rather stay on the streets with Gus and her newfound family. With the core group now one member stronger, a second season would have a completely blank slate to just follow the cats around the neighborhood doing whatever they please.
Are you hoping to see Alley Cats return for Season 2? Let us know in the comments down below!
