Smallscreen News

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant close out HBO day at press tour

By April MacIntyre Jan 15, 2010, 15:05 GMT

Comedian and actor Ricky Gervais Colin MacFarlane / Splash News

Fans of Ricky Gervais' "Extras" may have a glimmer of hope for more, while "The Office" fans take note: There will be no more talk of an Office reunion for Gervais, who spoke yesterday at the Winter press tour in Pasadena, closing out the star-studded HBO three-hour panels.

Gervais and creative partner Stephen Merchant were promoting the new animated HBO series "The Ricky Gervais Show" at the Winter TCA’s.

Following Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino and Susan Sarandon, the two quipped they were a bit of a let down for the marathon session that had the critics taking notes of the upcoming slate of programming for HBO.

Ricky Gervais said he will most likely "never revisit" the British Office series that spawned a worldwide TV franchise, which he co-created with Stephen Merchant, but he would consider doing more with his former HBO series "Extras," a show which inspires stars to still approach him in hopes of landing a guest role.

“I’m quite tempted to do more with Extras than The Office,” says Gervais. “ As much as I loved it, I think it would be the biggest mistake of our lives to return to doing The Office, Extras has more legs. Its ambitions were more traditional in many ways and every time I go to an awards show, people approach me and I call [co-creator] Stephen [Merchant] and say ‘you know who wants to be on Extras?’ I still don’t think we won’t return to it.”

Gervais did allude something might be brewing with NBC, and was in preliminary talks about him making some kind of appearance this season on the American version of "The Office."

“There’s been a bit of a talk. We manage the estate of 'The Office' every day. There’s another remake happening right now, in Israel and Russia and there’s talk of an Indian one. One in Korea. It’s ongoing.”

"The Ricky Gervais Show" is an animated version of his popular series of radio podcasts debuting on HBO this February 19 at 9PM. 

Gervais will serve as host of The Golden Globe Awards this Sunday night, January 17 at 7PM ET on NBC.