Peaky Blinders Season 6 - What We Know So Far
As we're currently living in the so-called "Golden Age of Television," network viewers, binge-loving streamers, and cable TV junkies alike are hardly starving for small screen series to get all obsessive over. But even with a glut of first-rate offerings arriving daily, a chosen few shows have risen as legitimate "Peak TV" contenders. Whether you know it or not, BBC One's electrifying crime drama Peaky Blinders is one of them. Created by Steven Knight (writer of Dirty Pretty Things, Eastern Promises, and Locke), and set in post World War I England, Peaky Blinders follows the exploits of the titular Irish crime family as they try to take over the streets of Birmingham. The series premiered to raves on BBC One in the Fall of 2013, and found favor Stateside on Netflix the following year with audiences devouring its savvy mix of bracing set pieces, character-driven plotting, and history-based drama.
At the center of the fray is the ever-underrated Cillian Murphy, who delivers a towering performance as Peaky Blinders leader Tommy Shelby, fronting a brilliant ensemble cast that's so far included the likes of Helen McRory, Paul Anderson, Finn Cole, Sam Niell, Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Adrian Brody, Aidan Gillen, and more.
Of Peaky Blinders' five seasons, most fans would agree that each has essentially been as impressive as the last. And even as the season 5 finale left those fans a bit divided when it hit the airwaves back in 2019, they were still beyond eager to see what came next for the Shelbys.
All will be revealed in the series' already greenlit sixth season. If you want a sneak preview of what's to come, here's a look at everything we know so far about the new season of Peaky Blinders.
When will season 6 of Peaky Blinders be released?
The obvious good news is that Peaky Blinders will, in fact, see a sixth season. If Knight is to be believed, fans of the BAFTA-winning series can indeed expect as seventh season as well, and possibly even a followup feature-length film. He even knows exactly where he wants the Shelby family's epic saga to end, telling BBC News in 2018 that finale will come quite poetically, with World War II arriving in the U.K. via "the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939."
Unfortunately, work on the new season of Peaky Blinders was shut down in March due to concerns over COVID-19. This delay in the filming of the complex drama series has been the primary contributor to the overlong hiatus. Fortunately, as of January 2021, Peaky Blinders season 6 is officially back in production, which means we could see the new episodes on the air sooner than expected (via Variety). This news of resumed production courtesy of Steven Knight himself came with the bittersweet caveat that the delay forced the team to discontinue plans for a seventh season. That means season 6 will officially be Peaky Blinders' last, with a likely movie to follow to tie up any loose ends. Fans received the coolest news imaginable when word dropped that the film is already in development, per Knight, and is a "fully formed idea."
Series star Paul Anderson had some reassuring words for fans on Instagram, too. Accompanying some artwork of his character, the actor wrote, "Season six #comingfknsoon. Thanking you all for the wait, it will be worth it." Sounds like promising news to us.
Who will return for Peaky Blinders' sixth season
Whenever season 6 arrives, a long time will have passed between the season 5 finale and the new season premiere. While that news is more than a little bit crushing for die-hard fans, they can take heart that the delay will not hinder series regulars from returning to wreak havoc on the streets of Birmingham.
And in spite of that shocking season 5 finale, Peaky Blinders fandom can certainly expect Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby to be front and center for the new season. He is, after all, the central player in the show, not to mention the biggest name in the series regular cast. As such, it's highly unlikely Steven Knight will be following through with Tommy's presumed actions in the waning moments of that finale.
It's also safe to assume Helen McRory, Paul Anderson, Finn Cole, and other series regulars will be back for the new season too. Season 5 director Anthony Byrne will once again be calling the shots on the new season as well, confirming to podcast Obsessed With Peaky Blinders that Sam Claflin's infamous season 5 fascist baddie Oswald Mosley will be back, and along with The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy's Gina Gray, who should have an expanded role in Season 6. They may even bring the likes of Joseph Geobbels and Adolf Hitler (who both attended Mosley's 1936 wedding in Germany) into the narrative.
Fans can also expect to see ghostly returns from departed cast members as well. And while Knight and Byrne are still playing coy about which, it appears Aidan Gillen's Abrama Gold will apparently not be among them.
What will happen in season 6 of Peaky Blinders
Now that we know a little bit about the "who?" and the "when?" of season 6, the question becomes what will Tommy and the gang be up to in the new season. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we'll go ahead and address the elephant in the room that is that season 5 cliffhanger. If you've yet to get that far in Peaky Blinders, the final moments of the season found the haunted, traumatized Tommy standing in a field with a gun to his head.
It was the last image we saw in season 5, and it proved quite divisive moment among series fans, if only because (Spoiler alert!) everyone was keenly aware that the show was not likely to go on without Cillian Murphy. Byrne may well have seen some of the backlash, and per another Digital Spy piece has already ensured fans that not only will season 6 open in that very moment, it will quickly resolve Tommy's fate. "Yeah, it picks up directly [from season five], the very first image you will see will be back in that field, with Tommy with a gun to his head and then we will move on from there and resolve that amazing moment."
As for what Tommy and his crew will go through after that, Knight tells NME that much of season 6 will revolve around the rise of fascism in the pre-WWII UK. "In series six, we'll be looking at 1934 and things are worse. The drum beat [of war and fascism] is getting louder, tensions are worse and Tommy is right in the middle of all that."
Knight went on to claim season 6 of Peaky Blinders will be, "the best yet." Here's hoping it lives up to that billing.