The final chapter of Tommy Shelby’s story has arrived, and the man who created him says this is exactly how it was always meant to end. Steven Knight, the mastermind behind the hit crime series, has opened up about Peaky Blinders The Immortal Man, explaining why the new Netflix film provides the perfect conclusion for the iconic gangster.
After six seasons of television and more than a decade of storytelling, the film now streaming on Netflix (as of March 20, 2026) brings Cillian Murphy’s character to a definitive end. Knight recently sat down with multiple outlets to discuss why this movie, not the series finale, is the true ending for Thomas Shelby.
Why a Movie Was Always the Plan
Knight revealed in interviews that the plan to end the Peaky Blinders saga with a feature film existed long before the show became a global phenomenon. Even during the first season’s run on BBC Two, Knight told interviewers his vision was to take the story all the way to World War II and conclude with a movie.
“Bizarrely, at the end of the first series when it was just a little thing on BBC Two, I did an interview and I said I’m going to take this all the way to the Second World War and end it with a movie,” Knight recalled. “Considering what it was at the time, that was a very bold and naive thing to say. But I always wanted to end it with a film.”
The television series concluded in 2022 with Tommy Shelby riding away on a white horse, having faked his death and seemingly found a sliver of peace. While some might have seen that as a fitting farewell, Knight disagreed.
“I couldn’t imagine that Tommy Shelby—it’s not very Tommy,” Knight said. “The Tommy Shelby story has got to end with a big bang. And that’s what it does now.”
The Meaning Behind The Immortal Man
The film’s title, which Knight admits came before the reason for it, perfectly captures the psychology of the character he has written for over a decade. The key lies in Shelby’s wartime experience during World War I.
In the backstory Knight has always carried in his mind, Tommy and his fellow soldiers found themselves trapped in no man’s land during a battle, certain they were going to die. They survived against all odds, and that moment shaped everything that followed.
“They all said to each other, from now on everything’s a bonus. Everything is extra,” Knight explained.
That mindset became Tommy Shelby’s defining trait. “He’s always walked this tightrope between life and death. And in a sense that means he’s immortal.”
The film also explores another form of immortality through legacy. Throughout the movie, Tommy is writing a book for his children, hoping to pass on lessons he never quite managed to express as a father.
A Father-Son Story at the Core
While the film delivers explosive action and a Nazi conspiracy plot, Knight says the emotional heart lies in the relationship between Tommy and his estranged son Duke Shelby, played by Barry Keoghan.
“The father and son were the main structures,” Knight told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.
In the film, Tommy has been living in self-imposed exile when events force him back to Birmingham. His son Duke has been running the Peaky Blinders in his absence, but in ways that trouble his father. Their journey from conflict to reconciliation—and ultimately to one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire franchise—forms the backbone of the story.
Knight gave Tommy a revealing line that sums up his failures as a parent: “I was never a father. I was a form of government.”
“They live in the shadow of him,” Knight said of Tommy’s sons. “Even if Duke Shelby feels he’s rebelling against his father, in actual fact he’s imitating him.”
A Reckoning With Family and Guilt
The film does not shy away from the darkness Tommy Shelby has carried throughout his life. One of the major revelations in The Immortal Man is that Tommy was responsible for his brother Arthur’s death—a secret that has been eating away at him.
“That’s the point,” Knight said. “The absolute point of that event is that it’s something that he cannot forgive himself for, because it goes against everything he’s ever stood for. His brother has always been by his side, everything has always been for the family, but a point was reached where…he says it himself: First, he says it was an accident, and then later he admits it wasn’t an accident.”
The film also sees the death of Ada Shelby (Sophie Rundle), the last surviving Shelby sibling besides Tommy. Her murder at the hands of fascist John Beckett (Tim Roth) becomes the catalyst that pulls Tommy back into action and forces Duke to reconsider his choices.
Knight described the film as Tommy’s “journey to redemption and absolution for what he’s done to a member of his family.”
The Real History Behind the Story
One of the film’s central plotlines comes from a real World War II operation that many viewers may never have heard of. Operation Bernhard was a Nazi plan to destabilize the British economy by producing massive quantities of counterfeit pound notes.
“They forged about £350 million,” Knight said. “According to the Bank of England it was the best forgery that had ever been made.”
The plan was so ambitious that the Nazis even considered dropping counterfeit currency from airplanes over British cities. “What an image that would have been,” Knight said.
For Knight, historical facts often serve as the starting point for fiction. “The true bit is always more remarkable than anything you could make up,” he said. “Then you weave a story around it.”
A Film Made for the Fans
Knight emphasized that making this movie was not just about completing his creative vision—it was also about giving something back to the audience that made the show a success.
“Peaky Blinders has succeeded because of the fans,” Knight said. “It was never promoted heavily. It was sort of our secret. People would find it and talk to someone else, and they’d love it.”
He recalled encountering fans in unexpected places. “You’d go into a pub and there’d be a bloke who’s a builder or a scaffolder or whatever, someone you wouldn’t imagine to be a fan, who rolls up his trouser leg and says, ‘Look at that,’ and it’s Tommy Shelby tattooed on his leg. That’s real commitment.”
The movie gave those fans a chance to come together. “What we wanted to do was create a film so that all the fans who have communicated virtually for so long could go to a building, go to the theater, watch it together, dress accordingly if they want to, and feel the emotions together.”
Tommy Shelby’s Final Scene
The film concludes with Tommy Shelby’s death. After successfully stopping the Nazi counterfeit plot and killing Beckett, Tommy is mortally wounded. He asks his son Duke to end his suffering.
“You’d do it for a horse,” Tommy tells Duke, a line that references the character’s longtime connection to horses and his own statement from Season 2 that “I am a horse.”
Duke, who earlier in the film claimed he could never kill a member of his family, grants his father’s wish. Tommy dies in his son’s arms, and receives a gypsy burial with his body burned rather than buried—a fitting end for the man who always walked between life and death.
The ending gives Tommy the closure Knight felt was necessary. “The Tommy Shelby story has got to end with a big bang. And that’s what it does now.”
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The Story Continues
While Tommy Shelby’s journey ends, the world of Peaky Blinders will continue. Knight has confirmed that a spinoff series is in development, set in Birmingham during the post-war reconstruction of 1953. Duke Shelby, now established as the Rom Baro (king of the gypsies) and leader of the Peaky Blinders, is expected to play a central role.
Peaky Blinders The Immortal Man is now streaming on Netflix. The film is available in 22 languages, including Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu for Indian audiences.
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