{"id":670243,"date":"2026-03-20T23:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/670243\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:52:12","slug":"tommy-shelby-dead-barry-keoghans-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/670243\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Shelby Dead, Barry Keoghan’s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:<\/strong> This article contains major spoilers for \u201cPeaky Blinders<\/a>: The Immortal Man,\u201d which premiered on Netflix on March 20.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter six seasons of \u201cPeaky Blinders,\u201d Tommy Shelby\u2019s dominance in Birmingham and beyond comes to a suitably violent end in Netflix movie \u201cPeaky Blinders: The Immortal Man<\/a>\u201d in which Cillian Murphy<\/a> dons the iconic flat cap for a final time before meeting a suitably sticky end. But just as the British crown passes from monarch to heir immediately upon death, so the chapeau is passed from Shelby Sr. to his errant son Duke, played in the film by Barry Keoghan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a \u201cPeaky Blinders\u201d sequel spinof<\/a>f<\/a> on the way<\/a>, which is likely to follow Duke as he matures from crown prince to Brummie kingpin, viewers haven\u2019t seen the end of the Shelby dynasty just yet.<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of the film\u2019s theatrical release, creator Steven Knight<\/a> (who is currently also writing the next installation of James Bond) sat down with Variety to discuss Tommy\u2019s demise, the very messy fight between father and son in a pig yard\u00a0\u2014 and what the future holds for Duke Shelby.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat did it feel like to write Tommy\u2019s death?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tQuite emotional, especially seeing [the premiere] the other night. Because he\u2019s been around \u2014 for me, he\u2019s been around since the \u201880s because I first wanted to do this for Channel 4<\/a>. And it\u2019s always the two brothers, and the younger brother was the one who becomes the leader. So, yeah, just to see the end of that \u2014 and because it\u2019s Cillian, and because he\u2019s done such a great job. But also, it\u2019s a character that I\u2019ll go into a pub somewhere, and there\u2019ll be some bloke who\u2019s a builder or something \u2014 you know, some bloke who doesn\u2019t look like a fan of anything \u2014 will roll up his trouser leg and there\u2019s Tommy Shelby tattooed on his leg.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you shed a tear?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI shed tears when I\u2019m writing sometimes. And I did, I think, then.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you always know how he was going to go out?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I was trying to work that out. I was having trouble with that one, because Tommy Shelby said in the series the only person who can kill Tommy Shelby is Tommy Shelby. But I didn\u2019t want that to happen. And then it just suddenly became quite clear.<\/p>\n

\t\tAt what point did it become clear?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tProbably about a minute before I wrote it.<\/p>\n

\t\tMeaning that it would be Duke?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. That\u2019s got to be the way it happens. Because it\u2019s about succession and legacy, and Tommy Shelby has always had a very curious relationship with life and death. He\u2019s always on that tightrope \u2014 in the words of Keats, he\u2019s half in love with easeful death \u2014 since the First World War. And it\u2019s not just that he\u2019s probably mortally wounded. It\u2019s the conclusion of what his journey is: that he\u2019s going to go and join his family and join Grace, and do that. And the fact that he asked [Duke] to use the bullet with the name on makes it part of the tradition of the succession to power for his son.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd ultimately Tommy\u2019s dictating it, so it is still like he\u2019s in control. Did his funeral scene end up pretty much how you wrote it in the original screenplay?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. Well, what I wanted was to be in with the mourners. And the book, obviously, is important, and I wanted the words from the book to be the thing that he leaves behind, which is fine. But then after that, to move back so that the audience are invited to the funeral but they\u2019re not family, so you\u2019re a long way away when you see the flame at the end. It\u2019s almost like stepping back from a painting to get perspective. You see that actually, this is an event, and it\u2019s on behalf of fans of the show and of Tommy Shelby as well. You were at his funeral.<\/p>\n

\t\tWe do get a glimpse inside the caravan as well. Was that something you wanted?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I wanted him to be lying on money. I just thought that was quite funny. He\u2019s lived all his life accumulating money. And now, when he dies, it\u2019s all gonna burn, he\u2019s taking it all with him.<\/p>\n

\t\tThat\u2019s a great moment. Did Cillian know going into this Tommy Shelby was going to die?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. I mean, it wasn\u2019t me saying \u201cYou\u2019re gonna die,\u201d and we talked about it. It sort of felt inevitable that this, the ending of this, would be with him going. I couldn\u2019t imagine him retiring. It had to happen so then it was just a question of how and who.<\/p>\n

\t\tAre we gonna see more of Duke in the \u201cPeaky Blinders\u201d spin-off?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, we are.<\/p>\n

\t\tIs it going to be with Barry?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI can\u2019t comment.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe shootout scene between Cillian and Tim Roth outside the mortuary, amidst the horses, was that difficult to shoot?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tObviously there\u2019s bangs. I mean, the bangs weren\u2019t as loud for the horses at the time. The horses were fine, but we had to see them spooked. When that horse rears up in front of Cillian, and he\u2019s standing there and he\u2019s like [indicates with hands] this far from the hooves, that\u2019s real, that\u2019s not a stand-in. And that got as close as it gets to being like, \u201cOh, my God, this could end really badly,\u201d but Cillian just stood there \u2014 and he\u2019s not really a horse person \u2014 but he just stood there and the horse comes down, and he starts to calm him down for real, which I was filled with admiration for that.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnother memorable scene is the fight between Cillian and Barry in the pig yard. Was that shot in a studio or on location?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s on location in a really horrible little yard somewhere. And the pigs, as soon as \u2014 especially Barry, for some reason \u2014 as soon as Barry hit the deck, as soon as he\u2019s on the ground, they\u2019re trying to eat him. Somebody had to fight them off, and then you\u2019re like \u201cLet\u2019s go again!\u201d But, yeah, it\u2019s all real.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo it\u2019s real mud?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. And pig shit.<\/p>\n

\t\tOh no.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSo the original plan was to have a section of it clean \u2013 as [much as] it can be \u2014 clean mud with no pig donations, but pigs are the most lawless creatures on earth. And they just trashed the whole place. And this is day one of shooting. So I\u2019m there, \u2018cause it\u2019s like, \u201cHere we go, let\u2019s start the film, good luck everyone!\u201d Right, it\u2019s pig shit. So, yes, they\u2019re fighting in real mud and with real pigshit.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow many takes did they do?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think that was quite swift. I mean, it took the whole day, and then a bit of the next though. [Cillian and Barry] are both really good, and they both understood the urgency, and I think they were both quite keen to get out of there.<\/p>\n

\t\tI can imagine. Obviously it\u2019s really slippery as well. Was the fight choreographed?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was. And originally Duke fought back more and sort of prevailed for a bit, but in the end, in the edit, it felt right that when Tommy\u2019s back, Tommy\u2019s back, and nobody\u2019s gonna get anywhere. So in the end, he just wins. So they went through all of that for no reason.<\/p>\n

\t\tI suppose you stayed out of the mud?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a writer, why would I get covered in mud?<\/p>\n

\t\tAbsolutely. Did you know from the beginning you\u2019d have to recast Duke, who was played by Conran Khan in the series?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause of age \u2014 it\u2019s nothing to do with the actor, it\u2019s six years later. And then once that decision was made, we started to look and there was only one person. I mean, he looks right, and he\u2019s from the right place.<\/p>\n

\t\tDo you think the show and film might have gone in a different direction if it hadn\u2019t been for Helen McRory\u2019s death? She played matriarch Polly Gray in the series until her death from cancer in 2021.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think the fundamental story would have been the same. She would have obviously been in it. But once she\u2019s not around, then \u2014 you never know. It\u2019s like, I suppose, you\u2019ve got all these magnets, which are the characters, and something\u2019s going to be affected by that pull, and if you take that one away, then it\u2019s gonna be different. But yeah, I mean, such a tragic loss to lose Helen. But we see her in the in the funeral, you see the photo of her.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhy did you decide to go for the format of a feature film this time rather than doing another season?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, the plan was to do another season and then a feature. But then the pandemic came along, and so we couldn\u2019t do Season 7. So then we thought, well, let\u2019s go straight to the straight to the film<\/p>\n

\t\tLastly, speaking of films, how\u2019s Bond going?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, I can\u2019t give any details, obviously, but I\u2019m loving it. It\u2019s so much fun.<\/p>\n

\t\tAre we going to hear things soon?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeeesss. [Sounds unsure] Depends on what you mean by \u201csoon,\u201d but yeah. I mean, things are moving along quite nicely.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for \u201cPeaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,\u201d which premiered on Netflix on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":670244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[32030,112537,171,32755,282969,69251,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-670243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-barry-keoghan","tag-cillian-murphy","tag-entertainment","tag-peaky-blinders","tag-peaky-blinders-the-immortal-man","tag-steven-knight","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116264196228784712","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}