Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight explains why movie's shocking deaths 'had to happen'
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man brings the story of the Shelby family to a close after 13 years and is not shy with killing off beloved characters in the process.
The movie has been a huge success for Netflix, with the Peaky Blinders sequel film being the number one film worldwide on the streamer, including being the most watched film in the UK and United States.
Cillian Murphy, Sophie Rundle, and Stephen Graham all return from the TV show whilst Barry Keoghan, Tim Roth, and Rebecca Ferguson all join the cast, with Keoghan taking on the role of existing character Duke Shelby.
Though some fans have had criticisms for the movie, suggesting that it didn’t feel like the Peaky Blinders show they had come to know and love, if there is one thing no one can critique it’s the idea that writer Steven Knight didn’t take big swings in who he killed off.
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Spoilers ahead for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Arthur was always planned to be killed in the film according to Knight
The least surprising death in the film has been arguably the most controversial, with the off-screen death of Arthur being confirmed early on in the movie.
This has been highly criticised however due to the reveal that Tommy himself killed Arthur, leading to the self-imposed exile we find him in at the film’s beginning.
Defending the decision to have Tommy kill Arthur, Steven Knight told the official Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man podcast: “Everything that Tommy has ever stood for is family. And here he is, he shot his own brother. Everything falls apart after that.
“There is nothing left because everything you’ve ever stood for, everything you’ve represented, has gone. Tommy Shelby killed his everything all at once."
The original actor for Arthur is actually okay with the fate for his character however, telling LADbible in an exclusive interview: “I think it’s great. I mean, it’s such a powerful thing to do. It’s something you don’t see on TV.”
Steven Knight has defended killing off Ada halfway into the film
The next Shelby to die in The Immortal Man is Ada Shelby, with Beckett shooting her in the head for trying to expose the crimes of Duke Shelby, tasking him with shooting her and finishing the job himself when Duke hesitates.
Her death is the motivator for Tommy to bring himself out of hiding and confront his son after years away, and Knight has explained why its integral to the story.
Explaining her death in the Immortal Man podcast Knight said: “It's an expression of the nature of violence and the idea that at that time, death was like that. The bomb drops, you're gone.
“So I wanted to reflect that. But then we do see her again in the world."
Cillian Murphy has said that Tommy’s death ‘had to happen’, and Steven Knight agrees
Finally the film ends with the death of Tommy, shot by Beckett and finished off at the Shelby patriarch’s request by his own son Duke.
Steven Knight claims that the character’s ‘superpower’ has always been his indifference to death, but added that this was the always the way he planned for the story to end.
He told Entertainment Weekly: “I thought, to end it, he's gonna have to go.”
This is a view shared by Cillian Murphy, who said on Netflix’s companion podcast: “I kind of always felt that he needed to die, it needed to happen. A lot of the show he was kind of looking for that… it feels right, the way it happened.”
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Peaky Blinders, Netflix, Cillian Murphy, TV and Film, TV, Film
Michael Slavin