After a significant career leap and widespread visibility on both the big and small screens, Cillian Murphy can easily be recognized as one of the most popular actors of the moment. Already highly regarded by horror fans for his compelling performance in "28 Days Later" and quickly becoming a first-choice actor in Christopher Nolan's films, the Irish star owes his collaboration with the director on "Oppenheimer" to his winning the 2024 Academy Award for Best Actor.
But those more accustomed to living room entertainment will recognize him mainly for his work on “Peaky Blinders,” the series created by Steven Knight for the BBC and distributed by Netflix, which, after a six-season run, concluded with a touching epilogue in 2022. Still far from having exhausted its potential, the franchise is now preparing to expand with new spin-off projects and above all with the release of “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” the sequel film with Murphy once again in the lead role. Taking a closer look at the story of Thomas Shelby, we will witness a different setting and era than those explored in the television series, in the wake of historical facts and events destined to influence the balance of the world.
In Birmingham in 1940, in the midst of World War II, Thomas will be forced out of exile and fight to protect himself and his family from the Germans. Once again engaged in high-risk missions, the ghosts of yesterday will collide with those of today, leading him to a reckoning that can no longer be postponed.
Expected on Netflix on March 20, the first official teaser, released late last year, had already posed a central question to viewers: "What happened to the famous gangster Tommy Shelby?" From what has been leaked in the video, we see a character deeply marked by time, yet still wearing the signature outfit that made him unmistakable in the show's episodes. The cast also includes Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Sophie Rundle, Barry Keoghan, Stephen Graham, and Jay Lycurgo. Returning cast members also include Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, and Ian Peck.
From what has emerged, the theme of Nazism will occupy a central role in "The Immortal Man," so much so that Murphy himself sought to clarify any concerns about the tone and historical depiction in an interview with The Telegraph. Mentioning a passage in which the gang ally themselves with Nazis to damage the British economy, the actor clarified: "This film is not The Zone of Interest. And the last thing I want to be involved in is a moralistic or dogmatic work, because films should never tell you how to feel. They should only ask questions."
Expanding on the topic with some teasers, he then added: "This should be a fun action movie, with a lot of heart, but it could also be provocative. The best mainstream entertainment operates simultaneously on those levels." Appropriately quoting "Oppenheimer" himself, he concluded: "If you want to talk about where we are in the world and how close we are to nuclear fucking Armageddon, you can think of Oppenheimer that way, but if you just want to see a great movie with big explosions, then that's fine too."
Meanwhile, four years later, Paul Andersen—the actor best known for his role as Arthur Shelby—revealed in an interview with LADBible promoting "The Immortal Man" that, according to the initial plans, the show's ending was supposed to be different. In a nod to the plot developments we'll see in the film, the final episode was supposed to feature the sound of bells, symbolizing the dramatic arrival of World War II: "We hear the bells, and the sirens start to ring, marking the start of World War II. Our sons are going off to fight. That's how he wanted to end it, and a lot has happened since then."