Peaky Blinders Cosplay Sparks Taliban Detentions
Taliban detain Afghan Peaky Blinders fans for wearing the series look, after youths stepped out in flat caps and sharp suits modeled on Cillian Murphy’s gang.
File this under: things I did not have on my 2025 bingo card. A handful of young guys in western Afghanistan dressed up like the Peaky Blinders for a video, and the Taliban hauled them in to talk about their outfits. Yes, really.
What happened, without the smoke and mirrors
- Four young men from Jibrail, a town in Herat province, posted a video online dressed like Thomas Shelby and crew: flat caps, black gloves, three-piece suits, cigars, the whole thing.
- On Sunday, they were called in to the Taliban government’s provincial Department of Vice and Virtue. A spokesman, Saiful Islam Khyber, told local media (per BBC reporting) that the look had 'no Afghan identity' and that they were copying actors from a British production.
- Khyber said the men were put through a 'rehabilitation program' — and stressed they were not formally arrested, just 'summoned, advised, and released.'
- He also argued the clip was 'promoting foreign culture' in Herat and claimed the values shown in Peaky Blinders run against Afghan culture.
The part that sticks out? Khyber said the clothes were the issue because they were a straight lift from a British show — which he referred to as a movie — and therefore culturally out of bounds. He even volunteered that some Western wear might pass muster:
'Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture.'
After the meeting, the ministry released a video where the young men thanked officials for the guidance and said they hadn’t realized they were breaking rules. One of them said he had 'innocently' shared content against Sharia that drew a lot of views and promised he would not do 'anything like this' again.
It’s a strange collision of internet fandom and real-world power: a cosplay clip turns into a morality sit-down because the caps and cigars read as too British, too performative, or both.
Meanwhile, back in the safer world of fictional gangsters, the Peaky Blinders movie — titled The Immortal Man — is finally dated. It hits select theaters on March 6, 2026, and lands on Netflix on March 20.