Cillian Murphy poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)
Oscar winner Cillian Murphy is stepping back into the world of Peaky Blinders with a new film that takes the iconic Birmingham gangster saga into the era of World War II.
The film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, sees Murphy reprise his role as Thomas “Tommy” Shelby, the ruthless leader of the Peaky Blinders gang. In the new storyline, an older Shelby comes out of retirement to stop a Nazi conspiracy unfolding in the English city of Birmingham.
Murphy said the idea of turning the popular series into a film had been discussed for years before the script finally came together.
“I was always up for it,” Murphy told Reuters, adding that the creative team spent years developing the story to ensure the film justified expanding the world of the series into a two-hour format.
The original series first aired in 2013 and ran for six seasons, beginning with a story set in 1919. It followed Shelby’s rise from a street gang leader to a powerful political and criminal figure.
The film introduces several new cast members, including Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, and Barry Keoghan. Keoghan plays Duke Shelby, Tommy’s illegitimate son, whose complicated relationship with his father forms a central emotional thread in the story.
“When the story started clicking, it became about family and the relationship between father and son,” Murphy said.
Keoghan echoed that idea, noting that the film focuses on personal dynamics despite the violent backdrop.
“The violence is just the backdrop,” he said, comparing the storytelling approach to the family-driven moments seen in The Sopranos.
The film was written by series creator Steven Knight, who said he had long planned to conclude this chapter of the Peaky Blinders story with a feature film set during World War II.
Knight also drew inspiration from a personal story for the film’s opening sequence, which recreates the 1940 bombing of the Birmingham Small Arms factory. His mother had been working at the factory assembling artillery shells during the war but was not on shift the night of the bombing.
“I’ve always wanted the Peaky story to be rooted in real, personal history,” Knight said.
“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” will begin streaming on Netflix on March 20.
