The Real Immortal Man Behind Peaky Blinders — And Why His Story Still Matters Today
Set in World War II, the Peaky Blinders movie aims squarely at today, as writer Steven Knight and star Cillian Murphy draw sharp parallels to the present.
Peaky Blinders is back in the fight. Four years after the series signed off, we’re getting a new chapter with Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man — and yes, Tommy Shelby has unfinished business.
Where Tommy Shelby is now
The film jumps ahead to World War II, about six years after the series finale. Tommy (Cillian Murphy) has gone to ground in the countryside, supposedly living quietly, hammering away at a novel, and trying to outrun the ghost of Ruby. Peace doesn’t last. He’s pulled back into the game when he crosses paths with Duke (Barry Keoghan), who has seized control of the Peaky Blinders and tangled himself up with Nazi-linked operations. It’s a family matter and a national crisis rolled into one — which is very Tommy Shelby.
Why this story hits harder right now
Peaky has always mixed pulp and history. The show pulled from a real Birmingham street gang active from the 1880s through the 1920s, then tracked the Shelbys from the aftermath of World War I across the 1920s and into the early 1930s. Setting the film on the brink and into WWII isn’t just a neat time jump — it reframes the whole saga around the last era many people point to as a clear-cut fight against fascism, and what it means when that moral certainty starts to blur.
"When you’re writing, it’s like the weather against the window. You can’t help but absorb what’s going on in the world," writer Steven Knight said. "I thought the Second World War was the last time when there was absolute good and absolute bad... And bit by bit, that water pipe began to leak... we’re not quite so sure now that everybody agrees that that was good and that was bad. And so it does become timely, I suppose, sadly."
Cillian Murphy backs that framing, and his focus for Tommy is brutally simple: the world may be repeating itself, and this time it hits home.
"For Tommy, the idea that this world could let this happen again within his lifetime is just mind-blowing," Murphy said. "What does he actually stand for? And it draws him back into the world, where he basically has to confront everything. And most importantly, he has to confront his relationship with his son."
Translation: the war outside and the war inside are the same problem, and Tommy’s not built to sit it out.
The shape of the thing
Even with its fiction-first approach, Peaky has always felt uncomfortably close to real life. The Immortal Man leans into that — the geopolitics, the family wreckage, the seductive pull of power — and does it with the show’s usual sting. If you wanted a neat epilogue where Tommy tends roses and finishes a chapter, this is not that movie.
- Where to watch: Now in select theaters; hits Netflix on Mar. 20, 2026
- When it takes place: World War II, six years after the series finale
- Who is back/in play: Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby; Barry Keoghan as Duke
Peaky Blinders built its legend by staring straight at the chaos of its era. The Immortal Man doesn’t blink either — it just aims closer.