Alan Partridge hasn’t been released in the U.S. yet, but a sequel to the feature film is already in the works. Of course, that speaks less to anticipation that American audiences’ will embrace Steve Coogan’s fame-crazed character, and more to the fact that Alan Partridge has been a comedy staple in England for over two decades now. The film—released in the UK last summer under the title Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa‚ has—has earned enough there to warrant not only a follow-up, according to The Guardian, but also a new UK TV show and a the return of the webseries “Mid Morning Matters.”
While this is the first feature film for the character—and his first major exposure to American audiences—Coogan has been playing Partridge on British radio and TV since John Major was Prime Minister. (That’s 1991.) And while stateside comedy-nerds have long awaited the character’s first appearance on the big screen, even Coogan doesn’t expect the film to play well in middle America. Speaking to Vanity Fair, he said, “It’s not part of my plan to have Alan conquer America. If it’s just a cool movie that cool people like, that’s O.K. with me.” Those “cool people” will likely be excited by this announcement as well, while everyone else can feel free to remain unfazed.