Steven Knight explains why Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man doesn't bring back Lizzie Shelby

Look, by this point, every fan of the Peaky Blinders has watched the new movie. And if you’ve not, you’re probably not really that much of a fan…

Anyway, my point is, we all know by this point which of the characters from the series have returned, who dies and who the newbies are.

Obviously, we’ve got the likes of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his sister Ada (Sophie Rundle) back for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, but we’re without the likes of Arthur (Paul Anderson) and Lizzie Shelby (Natasha O’Keeffe).

And both the creator and much of the actors have addressed the missing characters.

Given a pretty brutal ending, Anderson told LADbible that he reckons Arthur’s storyline is ‘great’ while writer Steven Knight spoke of Alfie Solomons’ (Tom Hardy) absence.

But it’s Lizzie many fans have continued to ask about on social media and Knight has explained why she’s also not in the film. That's of course the second wife of Tommy and the mother of his beloved late daughter, Ruby.

The Hollywood Reporter asked the Peaky creator if there were any characters he had hoped to bring back but wasn’t able to and he simply answered: “No, not really.”

Knight explained that when creating a film it has got ‘to be very focused’.

“So I was very focused on Tommy and Duke as the twin engines of this thing, and there wasn’t really room, to be honest,” he said.

The writer continued that if he was to bring a character like Lizzie back, then the film would need ‘to spend time with them’.

“You can’t just gloss over them,” Knight clarified.

“So a film is not long enough to encompass all of that.”

On X, users expressed how ‘frustrating’ they found it that Lizzie was ‘completely erased’ from the film and suggested Ada could have given a ‘comment on how she is’.

Another added: “He’s right although, he could’ve at least had someone mention her tho so we can know how she’s doing etc.”

Having previously left Tommy (despite him 'going to be with her' at the end of season six), Lizzie is not in the new film. (BBC)

Well, whether fans are happy with Lizzie being missing from the film or not, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man has gone down an absolute treat.

It’s currently sitting at an impressive 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and excitement is already shifting to the sequel series.

Duke Shelby (whether he be played by Barry Keoghan again or not is unknown) is confirmed to be playing a part, as the new TV show moves us on to 1953.

Knight has said the series will focus on the ‘next generation’ of the Shelby family, whatever that means.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is now streaming on Netflix.