Nearly four years after Peaky Blinders wrapped up its sixth season, Steven Knight returns with Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, a feature spinoff that doubles as a farewell. Now streaming on Netflix, the film doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it leans into what made the series so compelling in the first place.
The story picks up in 1940, with Britain deep in the turmoil of World War II. Tommy Shelby, once the most feared man in Birmingham, has retired to the countryside.
Cillian Murphy plays him as a man who has given up. He is quieter, worn down, and haunted by ghosts of the past, especially the shock of the death of his daughter Ruby. He’s stepped away from power, the chaos that once defined him. But in this world, walking away never lasts.
A Nazi-backed conspiracy pulls Tommy back in, threatening not just his family but the country itself. At the same time, his estranged son Duke (Barry Keoghan) has taken charge of the Peaky Blinders. And he’s far more volatile than his father ever was. Keoghan captures both Duke’s ambition and his recklessness with precision.
The tension between father and son becomes the film’s emotional core.
Murphy, unsurprisingly, remains the film’s biggest strength. Even in Tommy’s quieter moments, there’s a weight to his presence that holds your attention. It takes a little time for him to fully step back into the action, but when he does, the film finds its rhythm. The calculating mind, the controlled menace — it’s all still there, just tempered by age.
Visually, this is unmistakably Peaky Blinders. Director Tom Harper sticks to the show’s signature style of slow-motion entrances, sharp suits, and a soundtrack that blends modern rock with period music. The opening bombing sets the stage for a tense thriller right away.
At the same time, the film rarely feels like it’s pushing beyond what the series has already done. It plays more like an extended episode than a standalone movie, hitting familiar beats and building toward a conclusion that one can anticipate from miles away.
And make no mistake, this is a film made for those fans. If you’ve followed the Shelby family from the beginning, there’s a lot here to appreciate. The callbacks, the returning characters, the sense of closure — it all lands better if you’re already invested.
What The Immortal Man does well is giving us a sense of closure. There’s a reflective quality in the narrative, especially as Tommy looks back on his life. He’s no longer chasing power in the same way. Rather, he’s trying to make sense of it all.
Does The Immortal Man deliver everything you might want? Not quite. Still, there’s value in it. This final outing with Tommy Shelby is worth the watch.
