It's been a whirlwind few months of casting news and announcements since Steven Knight's hotly anticipated Peaky Blinders movie was greenlit at Netflix back in June. Not only is newly minted Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy set to reprise his role as Brummie mobster Tommy Shelby in Knight's feature continuation of the wildly popular mob series, but in recent weeks we've also learned that Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, and Tim Roth are all heading to Birmingham too as Blinders' story heads into the Second World War. Now, to mark principal photography on the film getting underway in the UK today, Netflix have given us our first look at the return of Tommy Shelby. Check it out below:
And here's our first look at Murphy and Knight reunited on set:
He may be flat-cap free and sporting a few more grey hairs than when we last saw him here, but there's no mistaking it: our man Shelby is back! Having somehow managed to *SPOILER ALERT* both cheat death and go out in a blaze of glory at the end of Peaky Blinders' sixth series, it remains to be seen where Tommy Shelby's story is set to head in the Peaky Blinders movie. We do at least know however that the film, which is being directed by series regular director Tom Harper, will — per Knight's own words — see Blinders "go into and beyond the Second World War." And, naturally, we can expect Tommy Shelby to be dealing with more unfinished business (is there any other kind of business when it comes to Tommy Shelby?) as Britain — and the Blinders — brace for war.
In a statement shared by Netflix, director Harper shared his enthusiasm for getting cameras rolling on the return of Blinders. “There’s a great feeling of anticipation and excitement amongst our outstanding cast and crew," said the filmmaker. "We’re grateful to the fans for getting us to this point and believe this next chapter is going to deliver something extraordinary.” We may not know exactly when Knight and Harper's mob movie will be hitting our screens just yet, but by order of the Peaky Blinders — count us in!