According to the U.K. tabloid’s (unsubstantiated) report, the Netflix and BBC co-production will time jump forward to the 1950s. Murphy’s character Tommy Shelby “could” return, but in this iteration he’d supposedly be more of a “father figure” to the younger gang members than the central figure of the show. A source told the outlet:
“The sixth series of Peaky Blinders was supposed to be the last and the movie was meant to be the final farewell for the story. But show boss Steven Knight couldn’t resist coming back to the story — his most famous creation — and he’s been dropping hints he wanted to return to do more. But the fact that it’s been officially green-lit by the Beeb and wheels are in motion on pre- production will be a huge thrill to fans of the show, which was a huge hit for the BBC.”
It seems quite unlikely, now that Murphy’s got his Oscar bona fides, that he’d want to continue playing the same character going on 15 years. But given his love for the show, perhaps he’d be willing to do a cameo or two. (We’ll have to see what Shelby’s fate is in the World War II-set film.) Most likely, the new Peaky Blinders will be focused on younger characters, perhaps even new ones from The Immortal Man. Steven Knight has hinted as much, previously saying in February thats Peaky would continue in “another form” and that he already had an idea of what character was going to “pop out” in the film. We’re still in the rumor phase, of course, but it’s not a stretch to think that new Peaky Blinders is already in process; particularly because, as The Sun notes, Netflix and the BBC will want to capitalize on whatever momentum the movie gets. And as Knight himself has said: “Even when the movie is done, there is more to come. Watch this space.”
