Hot on the heels of his first Oscar win for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy is locked in to reprise his starring role in BBC/Netflix’s Peaky Blinders for a follow-up film to shoot in September, according to series creator Steven Knight.
Knight revealed the news in conversation with Birmingham World at the premiere of The Town, his new drama series for BBC. “He definitely is returning for it,” he said of Murphy. “We’re shooting it in September just down the road in Digbeth [England].”
Originally airing on BBC Two before moving to BBC One, and eventually to Netflix, where it exploded in popularity, Peaky Blinders takes its name from the Birmingham gang whose exploits it chronicles in the aftermath of World War I. Murphy led the popular British crime drama series as gang leader Tommy Shelby, with the show running for six seasons between 2013 and 2022.
Over the years, and even recently, Murphy has consistently expressed his willingness to return for a Peaky Blinders film if the script was right, with Knight also sharing his interest and intent to pursue such a project. “The film, I know exactly what it’s about. And I know what two stories it’s going to tell,” he shared in a 2022 interview with Esquire. “What will happen after that, I want that to depend on the film. For all we know somebody is going to pop out – I think I know who it’s going to be.”