Peaky Blinders spoilers ahead.
The end is nigh. As of next week, we’ll finally find out what lies ahead for Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and the Peaky Blinders.
Season six has proven to be more than a little unsteady on its feet, with new characters coming into the fold while others have been pushed out completely (but hey, at least Finn Shelby finally got some actual lines this week, and a wife).
But while Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) is hanging on by a thread, Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe) is at the end of her tether and Billy Grade (Emmett J Scanlan) is literally being held by the balls by American businessman “Uncle” Jack Nelson, it’s always going to come back to the trials and tribulations of leading man Tommy.
Only, it seems his days are well and truly numbered.
If we hear Michael (Finn Cole) declare one more time straight to camera that he’s going to kill Tommy Shelby, then we may scream, but we can’t deny he at least has a life plan. Though if he’s not careful, someone – or something – may beat him to that punch as tuberculoma continues to ravish the once-powerful leader’s brain.
Meanwhile, Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) and Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson) are enjoying their own power plays, delighting in getting Tommy into even further trouble seemingly just because they enjoy seeing him squirm.
Writer Steven Knight has gone out of his way this series to make two things obvious – 1) several people want Tommy dead, and 2) Tommy has “one last thing to do” before he “rests”.
Either way, it seems the writing’s on the wall for him. Tommy Shelby’s death, at this point, seems an inevitability. The question is exactly how he’s going to die.
If the tuberculoma doctor’s estimates are much to go by, Tommy has 18 months to make his peace with the world before he shuffles off this mortal coil. But that goes against everything Knight has previously said about the story starting at the end of World War I and ending with the start of World War II.
Currently, within the Peaky timeline, it’s 1934 – so if the doctor is correct, Tommy will be dead by the end of 1936. That’s three whole years before Neville Chamberlain’s speech announcing the official start of Britain’s war with Germany.
So are they really going to pull the trigger on Tommy Shelby early, even though we know that there’s a movie on the way?
While there is a big part of us that believes that couldn’t be a possibility – after all, what is Peaky without a leading man? – there is one side of us that is increasingly believing Knight could pull the rug out from under us and off him anyway, moving the centre stage to someone else in the ranks.
Possibly Duke, the suddenly appearing son he didn’t know he had until two episodes ago. Michael, at this point, is far too disliked and sidelined, Arthur has been melted down into a pot of insecurity, and Finn has faded away almost entirely.
Then there’s Cillian Murphy’s career. It’s often proved to be the immovable block when it comes to filming, as his Hollywood star continues to rise. Currently, Cillian is attached to the all-star cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, playing the titular character.
He’s joined by the likes of Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett and Kenneth Branagh to name a few. Even by the name ‘Christopher Nolan’, you know the word ‘Oscars’ is within hearing distance.
Currently in production, the film is slated for release in July 2023. Even taking into account a six-month window of principal photography, reshoots, and the month-or-so of obligatory promotion around the world, there is definitely space there for the Peaky Blinders movie.
But that’s if he doesn’t get snapped up elsewhere first.
The Peaky Blinders world has existed for coming on a decade now, first dropping in 2013. It seems like it might be the right time to bow out.
Either way, we’ve only got a week to find out how – or even if – Tommy manages to cheat death once again. Though we have a feeling fighting his own body might be the foe too far.
Peaky Blinders series 6 airs on Sundays.
Source: digitalspy.com