This week, viewers of the crime drama Peaky Blinders were excited to learn that a new show centered around the famous British gang is in development. The official announcement on X (formerly Twitter) didn’t reveal much, simply stating, “A new era, a new generation, a new story. A new series. With the Shelby family right at its blood-soaked heart.” However, the announcement did confirm one key detail: the new series will be set sometime in the future, involving a time jump.
The announcement video jumps ahead to the years 1936-1953. While this is exciting news for most Peaky Blinders fans, it likely spells trouble for the Shelby family’s leader, Thomas Shelby.
The Shelbys are back!
A fresh start, a new generation, and a brand new story unfold in this new series. The Shelby family remains central to all the intense action.
#PeakyBlinders #Shelby #DramaSeries #StevenKnight #Birmingham— Peaky Blinders (@ThePeakyBlinder) October 2, 2025
Peaky Blinders’ Time Jump Hints at Transfer of Power
Inspired by a genuine youth crime gang that controlled Birmingham, England around the start of the 20th century, Peaky Blinders starts in 1919, shortly after World War I ended. The show centers on the clever criminal leader Thomas Shelby, brilliantly portrayed by Cillian Murphy, as he works to grow his gang’s strength and reach, both within the city and further afield. The series was highly praised by critics and viewers alike, running for six seasons, with the final season moving the story of the Shelby family and the Peaky Blinders into the early 1930s.
In March 2024, a new movie continuing the story of Peaky Blinders was announced. Set in the 1930s, it picks up a few years after the show’s ending, where Thomas Shelby pretended to die and left for a fresh start in the English countryside. The Immortal Man will bring back Cillian Murphy as Shelby, alongside Stephen Graham, Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, and Ian Peck, all reprising their roles from the series. Murphy’s return suggests that Thomas may not have been able to fully escape his past, and the film will likely delve into the repercussions of his vanishing act.
It looks like The Immortal Man will be set in the 1930s, a time when the world was struggling with the Great Depression and the growing threat of fascism in Europe. Considering the new Peaky Blinders series begins almost twenty years later, it’s likely Thomas Shelby won’t be in charge anymore. By 1953, Thomas would be either very elderly or, unfortunately, deceased. With the announcement of the new Peaky Blinders series focusing on “a new era, a new generation,” it appears our concerns about Shelby’s fate in Immortal Man might be correct; Thomas won’t survive the movie.
What is Peaky Blinders Without Thomas Shelby?
If Shelby truly dies in The Immortal Man, we expect that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight will select someone in the film to take over as the gang’s leader and guide them through another World War. Alternatively, Immortal Man might show Shelby’s definitive death, and we could be introduced to the new leader at the beginning of the series set in the early 1950s.
As Peaky Blinders developed, it blossomed into a show with a fantastic cast, showcasing some of the best British and Irish acting talent. However, Cillian Murphy’s captivating portrayal of Shelby remained the heart of the series. We’re definitely looking forward to future installments of Peaky Blinders, especially now that Netflix has already commissioned two more seasons. Still, it’s difficult to picture the world of the show – Birmingham and beyond – without Shelby at its core.
Even though Murphy is also executive producing the new show with Knight, the return of Peaky Blinders feels like another successful show being stretched too thin for more “content.” While stories about crime and families will likely always be popular, the fact that a show that ran for six seasons is now getting a movie *and* a two-season spinoff highlights Hollywood’s tendency to avoid risks and its reluctance to support fresh stories and new talent. Knight has already released a couple of other period crime dramas this year – House of Guinness and A Thousand Blows – which makes one wonder if he might be better off focusing his energy on those new series, especially since Peaky Blinders is returning without its main star.
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2025-10-05 01:10