Image Credit: Netflix
During a highly anticipated masterclass at the Annecy Animation Festival, Netflix provided a world-exclusive glimpse at the first two episodes of the upcoming series. Described as a very funny adult animated comedy, street cats Follows the trials and tribulations of feral British cats trying to survive in an uncaring human world.
During the “Masterclass”, Gervais discussed the show’s unique production process, its groundbreaking animation style, and how it served as a natural evolution of his entire career, in addition to presenting several clips and two full episodes of the show, with the crowd singing Happy Birthday to the comic.
While we have a strict ban on reviewing the series (which ends on release day), I will say that the episode filled the room with laughter, which is a strong sign, considering that viewers were from all over the world and as we’ve seen in Netflix’s top 10, comedies often struggle to break out of their country. The natural banter between the characters is undoubtedly what this series lives and dies on, but so far it’s also showing that it has plenty of heart, which is the basis of many of Gervais’s best works.
Ricky Gervais at the Annecy International Film Festival – Image: Casey Moore/What’s on Netflix
Here’s a comprehensive description of everything mentioned Alley cats.
How street cats Fits into Gervais’s scope of work
While Ally Cats is Gervais’s first time creating an animated sitcom from scratch (he’s voiced several feature films and had his podcast turned into animation – streaming on Netflix US!), he sees it as a natural progression of his creative DNA. During the panel, Gervais reflected on how each of his previous projects has served as a specific thematic “study” of the world around him.
“I worked in an office for 10 years and I studied it,” he told the Annecy crowd, referencing his groundbreaking debut series, The Office. He incorporated this observational approach into his follow-up Extra: “I worked in media for 4 or 5 years, so I did a study on that.” He told that Derek was greatly inspired by his family. “It was a study of several people in my family who were care workers. It was a kind of study of kindness.”
As far as their huge Netflix hits go after life? Gervais clarified a common misconception: “I think people thought it was a study of grief, but that was never the intention. It was a man’s grief, but it wasn’t really about him, it was a love story.”
with street catsGervais is reflecting a lifelong love of animals and a desire to escape the makeup chair. He joked, “I don’t have to do hair and makeup or wake up early. The cats won’t grow old because I’ve grown old and fat.” This love of cats in particular should come as no surprise if you’ve ever heard of Ricky at length or seen his social feeds. “I thought, they’re perfect creatures. They’re so independent. They’re so little and they think they’re lions. I just love their attitude.”
Development of the writing and casting process
This progress in his career has also changed the way he makes shows. Reflecting on his early days, Gervais noted the challenges of traditional casting: “The first thing I ever did was The Office. And you cast and cast, and you don’t know who’s going to come through the door. But you’ve already written it. The second series of something, you know who you’re writing for.”
by the time he arrived after life and now street catsHe had established a team of regular people who came regularly to all his projects. “I cast it before I wrote it. I cast all the people. So I knew who I was writing for, which really helps.”
This allowed them to throw out the animation voice-acting rule book. Instead of isolating the actors in sound booths, the entire cast recorded their episodes together in one room. Gervais created a strict rule: “Don’t put on voices. Don’t do cartoon voices. Don’t say funny things. Just be yourself. I want it to be naturalistic.” The team would start with a 15-page script, study the scenes, and then independently improvise, talking and laughing at each other to capture authentic jokes.
Alley cats. (Left to Right) Ricky Gervais as Gus in Alley Cats, Kerry Godleyman as Lara. Ten million. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
Ground animation and micro acting
Because the audio was completely finished before the animation began, the animators (led by Gervais’s right-hand man Elliott and designer Tang) built the world around the actors’ natural performances.
Gervais was adamant that the world street cats Feel completely realistic, with the only exception being that cats can talk. “If a motorcycle moves forward, it does not go [makes cartoon noise]It’s a motorbike… everything is realistic except the cats talking,” he said. “They can’t drive spaceships, they can’t go back in time.”
This realistic approach extended to the characters’ facial expressions, with Gervais emphasizing subtle, nuanced acting over broad cartoon reactions. “I think in terms of acting, when you see people think that acting is all about yelling and doing… I think good acting is when you don’t have to do anything,” he explained. “Less is more… don’t spread the jokes too much. They don’t need to look… families don’t look at each other when they talk.”
Alley cats. (Left to Right) Ricky Gervais as Gus, Tom Basden as Ponce, David Earl as Puke, Andrew Brooks as Fang, Dianne Morgan as Olive in Alley Cats. Ten million. Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
universal theme
Despite the bawdy humor (the F word, the C word and, really, any naughty word you can think of) Very generously), street cats Deeply rooted in pathos. Gervais shared, “I like a kind of pathos and I think with any fantasy what you do is create your heroes and villains to play for the soul.” Since feral cats live precarious lives at the bottom of the social heap, the risk seems incredibly high. “The danger here is that they could get crushed or fall into a pit and die… I want people to care about these cats.”
While Alley Cats is distinctly British, Gervais knows from experience that its themes of survival, romance and existential dread translate globally. Looking back at The Office, he recalled how people initially thought the show was distinctly English, yet it spawned 11 international remakes.
“The themes are universal,” Gervais explained. “A job of work, being thrown together, boy meets girl, all the ego, the fame – all those things that are still universal.” He even poked fun at the localization of humor in different cultures, looking at how a classic UK office prank translated overseas. “We did a thing where we put a stapler in jelly. I believe in the French version, it was a cheese – that’s how it translates!”
Ultimately, Gervais sees his feral cats as a perfect vessel to explore our own human flaws. “Whatever it may seem, I’ve always written about humanity… Drama hides the hero’s flaws, comedy exaggerates them and says we’re all idiots so don’t worry about it.”
Bringing Cats to Life: Praising the Production Team
While Gervais is an experienced creator, he did not have much of a hand in bringing the audio to life beyond a sketch of his cat Gus drawn several years ago. “I can’t really do that… I can’t hold cameras myself. They just have to know what I want,” he explained. He praised the visual team, particularly highlighting his “right-hand man” Elliot Dear and designer Tang Kheng Heng for creating the show’s beautiful backgrounds and perfectly capturing his original sketches.
However, translating his perspective led to some hilarious behind-the-scenes moments. To achieve the specific physical comedy he desired, Gervais often resorted to acting out the feline antics himself. “The bits are [videos]I’m crawling on the floor,” he joked, adding that there was video evidence of it on producer Steve’s phone. He also humorously acknowledged the painstaking work of the animation crew, quipping that their hyper-specific instructions – like asking for a small adjustment to a cat’s tail or eyebrow – probably drove the “sweatshop of 60 people” crazy.
Gervais made sure to share the love with the wider production team in attendance at Annecy. She extended special congratulations to the show’s producer, who was present in the audience, and said that this was their first time working together and this project required them to really get to know each other. He also highlighted the important work of his editor Rachel Brennan, who was handed hours of overlapping, improvised audio and asked to work her magic or as Gervais put it, “A big thanks to editor Rachel, who I just recorded a big bag of crap with [for] And said, ‘Okay, take 15 minutes out of it!'”
Alley cats. Ricky Gervais as Gus Eli Cates. Ten million. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
Desire street cats Will we get a season 2?
Based on Ricky’s comments, it’s not expected that the streamer will place a large pre-order for the show as it does with many of its adult animated sitcoms, meaning we’ll likely have to see how viewership holds up if it gets a season 2.
It looks like Gervais isn’t planning on ending the wild entertainment anytime soon: He’s made it clear that he’s already looking forward to Season 2!
On a related note, he had nothing but high praise for the streamer, noting his entirely hands-on approach towards his creative vision. “Let me just say how awesome Netflix has been… They started it when I saw the line ‘It’s cats, and they swear’, [Netflix asks] ‘What happens?’ [Gervais] Nothing.” Greenlight!
Are you excited to see Ricky Gervais? street cats When will it be on Netflix this August? Let us know in the comments below!
