Four years after the curtain fell on the acclaimed BBC series, Peaky Blinders returns with a cinematic epilogue that thrusts Tommy Shelby and his notorious crew back into the heart of wartime Birmingham. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man—now streaming on Netflix following a limited theatrical run in the U.S. and UK earlier this month—picks up the story in 1940, with Britain reeling under the weight of World War II and the Shelby legacy hanging in the balance.
For fans who might be struggling to recall the show’s explosive finale in April 2022, the new film wastes little time in reminding viewers where Tommy Shelby left off. In the final moments of season six, Tommy, convinced he had been dealt a death sentence by a diagnosis of tuberculoma, retreated into isolation. He set fire to his mansion, cut ties with his remaining family, and prepared for his own demise—only to discover, in a hallucinatory moment, that the doctor who delivered the grim news was in league with fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Realizing he’d been deceived, Tommy confronted the physician but ultimately spared his life, choosing instead to disappear, last seen riding away on a white horse—a man with a clean slate, presumed dead by many.
The new film, as reported by ELLE and other outlets, picks up several years later. Tommy Shelby, played once again with brooding intensity by Cillian Murphy, is living in self-imposed exile—haunted by loss, regret, and the ghosts of his past. But the chaos of WWII and the threat of a Nazi plot to sabotage the British economy force him out of hiding. According to Netflix’s synopsis, "Birmingham, 1940. Amidst the chaos of WWII, Tommy Shelby is driven back from a self-imposed exile to face his most destructive reckoning yet. With the future of the family and the country at stake, Tommy must face his own demons, and choose whether to confront his legacy, or burn it to the ground. By order of the Peaky Blinders…"
The stakes this time are national, not just personal. Tommy’s son Duke—now played by Barry Keoghan—finds himself entangled in a counterfeit-money scheme orchestrated by Nazi agent John Beckett (Tim Roth). As Britain’s wartime economy teeters, the Shelby family’s internal fractures threaten to undermine their ability to stop Beckett’s plot. Tommy’s sister Ada (Sophie Rundle), now burdened with political responsibilities, tries to pull him back into the fold, but it’s the enigmatic Kaulo Chiriklo (Rebecca Ferguson)—twin sister of Tommy’s former lover and Duke’s mother Zelda—who finally succeeds in drawing him home.
The film’s first act lingers in Tommy’s isolation, as he drifts through his exile more in communion with ghosts than the living. Critics have noted that this stretch is the weakest, lacking urgency and tension until Tommy is finally compelled to return to Birmingham. But once he does, the narrative gains momentum: Duke’s uncertain loyalties, Beckett’s escalating threat, and the ever-present specter of family vengeance drive the story toward a bloody, ritualized reckoning that will feel familiar—and satisfying—to longtime fans.
Of course, this is not the same morally ambiguous world that defined the original series. As noted by Vulture and other reviewers, the film trades the show’s complex, charismatic rivals for more straightforward villains: the Nazis. The moral calculus is simpler, the stakes clearer. "The film asks viewers to root for Tommy Shelby and company as de facto defenders of England against cartoonishly evil enemies, and that is a much easier, flatter dynamic than the show typically dealt in," one review observes. The result is a plot that moves in a straight line from conspiracy to revenge to final reckoning—bigger in scale, perhaps, but smaller in nuance.
What keeps The Immortal Man compelling, however, is Murphy’s performance. He slips back into Tommy Shelby’s skin with remarkable ease, but this time the character is marked by exhaustion, regret, and the dawning realization that his time is ending. The film’s most memorable scenes—whether a pub confrontation bristling with the threat of violence, a mud-soaked fight with his son, or a blistering shootout with Beckett—belong to Murphy. As one critic puts it, "Murphy still gives Tommy the familiar smoldering intensity, but now it is tempered by age and weariness." It’s a portrayal that gives Tommy Shelby a fitting, emotional sendoff.
The supporting cast offers a mix of old favorites and new faces. Rundle’s Ada is present but underutilized, while Stephen Graham, Ned Dennehy, and Ian Peck return mostly as reminders of the world Tommy once commanded. Packy Lee’s Johnny Dogs gets a bit more to do, but it’s the newcomers—Keoghan as Duke, Ferguson as Kaulo, and especially Roth as the menacing Beckett—who bring fresh energy to the ensemble. Notably, Duke’s storyline is a direct continuation from the series finale, where he was fully brought into the Peaky Blinders fold after killing Billy Grade for betraying the family—a moment that cemented his place and now propels him into the film’s central conflict.
Behind the camera, director Tom Harper returns to the franchise for the first time since season one, delivering several visually striking sequences. The cinematography by George Steel and Ben Wilson preserves the series’ trademark blend of industrial grime and operatic grandeur. Costumes and practical sets remain top-tier, though some digital backdrops in bombed-out Birmingham are less convincing than the show’s usual tactile environments. The music, as ever, is a highlight—anachronistic modern rock, including Nick Cave’s "Red Right Hand," sets the mood with the same swagger fans have come to expect.
For those who remember the fates of other key characters: Michael Gray, Tommy’s cousin and son of Aunt Polly, does not appear in the film, having been killed by a car bomb switched to his vehicle by Tommy’s colleague in the series finale. Arthur Shelby, Tommy’s brother, avenged Polly’s death by killing IRA commander Laura McKee, a plotline that brought closure to the loss of Helen McCrory, whose presence, showrunner Steven Knight has said, "rules" over the film. The family’s fractured state at the end of season six—Lizzie gone with their son Charles, Finn Shelby exiled by Duke—sets the stage for the film’s themes of legacy, redemption, and reckoning.
Ultimately, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is not the sharpest or most complex installment in the Shelby saga, but it is a stylish, emotional, and fitting farewell. The film delivers the violence, drama, and family intrigue fans crave, anchored by a performance from Murphy that makes Tommy Shelby’s final chapter feel both inevitable and earned. As an epilogue to six seasons and 36 episodes, it may not recapture all the show’s thorny moral ambiguity, but it gives the Peaky Blinders the sendoff they deserve—one last ride through the shadows of Birmingham, by order of the Peaky Blinders.