It's Officially The End Of An Era For Peaky Blinders

Published Oct 2, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT

Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. 

You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."

Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. 

Peaky Blinders is ending an era after dominating TV as one of the greatest crime drama series of all time, featuring powerhouse performances, intrigue, and explosive action scenes. The show is a fictionalized retelling of the exploits of the real-life Peaky Blinders gang based in Birmingham, England and active from the 1880s to the 1920s. While seven seasons had been planned, the 2020 filming hiatus led to a change of plans, with a movie in place of the final season, leaving the six seasons of Peaky Blinders ending on a slightly ambiguous note.

The Peaky Blinders movie, The Immortal Man, fulfilled fan hopes that the franchise would continue the story of Tommy Shelby after he was last seen riding away on a white horse. Set in the 1940s after a time jump, The Immortal Man transcended its TV roots to make Peaky Blinders resemble The Godfather in terms of scale, amplifying the cinematic tone of the TV show and showing the franchise's full potential, but delivering a catch. Tommy Shelby's death in the movie is a major change for the iconic series, with the next Peaky Blinders spinoff continuing without him.

The Peaky Blinders Sequel Series Is Moving On Without Cillian Murphy

Image via MovieStillsDB

Cillian Murphy gave one of the best performances in Peaky Blinders, stealing virtually every one of his scenes and carrying the story on the very few occasions that the season dragged. Playing Tommy Shelby as both mysterious and stoic allowed the character to remain intriguing even at the center of the drama, and the series became inseparable from the actor, who is also one of the franchise's executive producers. The upcoming Peaky Blinders sequel series may have a very different feel without Murphy, but there could be a new creative opportunity here.

Murphy's portrayal of Tommy made the character into an antihero worthy of being ranked alongside iconic characters like Tony Soprano and Walter White, but with the currently unnamed sequel series taking place after Tommy's death in The Immortal Man, Peaky Blinders is officially switching main characters. The story is set to follow a new generation of the Shelby family and while the main character that will replace Tommy is going to have some big shoes to fill, it is possible that the sequel could be just as good as the original.

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The next Peaky Blinders series will include some original cast members, which ensures that the transition to a new character's story will not be as jarring as it could have been. Ned Dennehy and Packy Lee are reprising their characters Charlie Strong and Johnny Dogs, and starring alongside a cast that includes Charlie Heaton, Lashana Lynch, and Jamie Bell, who will be taking on the role of Duke Shelby. While Murphy will be missed, Peaky Blinders' ensemble cast can survive his departure, and it is likely that the spirit of Tommy will be remembered many times in the series.

Cillian Murphy Is Unlikely To Play Tommy Shelby Again

Via MovieStillsDB

Tommy Shelby ages significantly in Peaky Blinders, beginning at around 29 and ending the series at 44, before The Immortal Man sees him at 50, which lines up with Cillian Murphy's age. While the character might appear again in a prequel series, a younger actor would be required to play him, so unless the creators film an alternative future scene in which Shelby survives, it is very unlikely that Murphy will ever play Tommy again, marking the end of his era acting in Peaky Blinders.

Peaky Blinders has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating from both audiences and critics.

Murphy described Tommy Shelby as a role he will "never experience again" in an interview with The Independent, saying that "it’s really unusual and gratifying to have that opportunity to play a character like that." This all but confirms that he will not be returning to the role, with Tommy's fate in The Immortal Man setting his son Duke up to be the next main character in the Peaky Blinders franchise. The movie marked a turning point for the character, and what he does next remains to be seen.

Source: The Independent

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Peaky Blinders is a historical crime drama created and written by Steven Knight and starring Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, and Helen McCrory. The television show is based on the gang, Peaky Blinders, a group that banded together after the end of World War I.