Peaky Blinders – Picture: BBC
Peaky Blinders has now concluded its TV run after 36 episodes across 6 seasons with the show now available in full on Netflix in almost every region around the world except the UK where it’s available on the BBC iPlayer exclusively for a little while longer. The show may be done but like The Last Kingdom, a movie is reportedly in development so here’s what we know so far.
Since 2013, we’ve followed the highs and lows of Thomas Shelby’s rise to power as the head of a street gang following the First World War. The series has followed the family over the course of several decades with season 6 being set in the run-up to World War 2.
Although the series is a BBC show, Netflix has held the exclusive international distribution rights since September 2014 with new seasons arriving roughly every year or so after that. Season 6 landed on the service in June 2022.
Rumors of a Peaky Blinders movie have been swirling since the pandemic when production on the sixth season was severely impacted and a seventh season looked increasingly unrealistic.
We have to rewind to January 2021 when we got a more fleshed-out idea about what a Peaky Blinders movie would look like. Naman Ramachandran spoke to Steven Knight at the time (when he was rumored to be striking a Netflix deal) and spoke about the possible upcoming movie saying:
“We are in development. It’s a fully formed idea and it has a beginning, middle and end. And I think it’s going to be a fitting conclusion to the story told so far, but from it, there will be things I don’t really call spinoffs, but there will be other TV shows that I hope will come out of [it], that will continue to tell the story of this part of society and this family.”
Knight later added that the movie came about in replacement of a seventh season saying “we put our heads together and thought that it would be a good idea to do a movie instead of doing series seven.”
Despite its announcement all that time ago, it does appear the movie is still in development but very early. In an interview with Caryn Madabach, who heads up Caryn Mandabach Productions said that the “Peaky” brand isn’t going anywhere and the article noted that “a movie currently being planned”.
In the podcast Strictly Business, Mandabach didn’t have too much to say about the movie other than “we’re in negotiations” and that those negotiations are specifically with Netflix adding that she’s “generally feel optimistic about the whole thing.”
Picture: Benijay Productions / BBC
You will be able to get your Peaky Blinders fix elsewhere too. In the above interview, they mentioned that there’ll soon be a “virtual-reality experience, a ballet performance and an alcoholic beverage” in the immediate future.
The former of which is called Peaky Blinders: The Rise which opened in London in June 2022 and runs through to February 2023.
Here’s what you can expect from the show:
“PEAKY BLINDERS: THE RISE is the first official fully immersive 360-degree theatre show set in the world of Peaky Blinders and taking place at The Vanguard Theatre, just moments away from the setting for Solomons Yard.”
The stage adaptation is called Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby which opens in UK theaters in September 2022 and runs through April 2023.
The whiskey collaboration is also a go according to Bevnet which reported that the beverage is available on ReserveBar as of June 10th for $29.99.
Cillian Murphy has expressed his willingness about returning to the character in the future saying “if there’s more story to be told, I’ll be there” but added “I think it’s good for everyone to have a little break” for a while.
He dismissed knowledge of a movie saying he knows “Genuinely nothing and I’d be as excited as anybody to read a script.”
When asked about what’s next for his character, Murphy said:
“I really have no idea. Steve always surprises. Whenever you read a script from him it is never how you expected or what you thought might happen. It’s always in fact completely the opposite. He manages to kind of subvert that gangster narrative very well I think. I don’t know, I really, really don’t know. I haven’t read any film script or anything like that so I can’t give you any exclusive on that, Nancy, I’m afraid.”
Creator of Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight is in high demand following the success of the show and has been hard at work on a slew of released and upcoming projects. There’s a follow-up series to A Christmas Carol in the works, he continues to be involved with Apple TV+’s See. His next major project is SAS: Rogue Heroes where he reteams with Tom Shankland. That project is expected to go to Epix in the United States and the BBC again in the UK.
The creator is also at Netflix for a couple of other upcoming projects.
That includes The Helicopter Heist that’s set to star Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie is about a gang of thieves plotting to steal millions using a stolen helicopter.
Knight also wrote the pilot episode and serves as executive producer on All The Light We Cannot See which is currently in production as of the publishing of this article.
Do you want to see a Peaky Blinders movie on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "A notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham, England, is led by the fierce Tommy Shelby, a crime boss set on moving up in the world no matter the cost."
