Warning: Spoilers ahead. Do not continue if you have not seen the Peaky Blinders movie, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal, currently available on Netflix, is a movie that brings the story of Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, to an end.
It’s a definitive ending, but spoiler alert! – means to kill him.
Tommy Shelby has had many encounters with death, including having a gun put to his head in the previous season, so this isn’t all that surprising. The ending feels as inevitable as Walter White’s end in Breaking Bad.
For six seasons, the hit British drama (first aired in 2013) charted the rise of iconic characters from the 1920s to the 1940s, from mob bosses to politicians.
Murphy’s star also rose during this period, eventually winning an Oscar in 2024 for Oppenheimer.
At the start of “The Immortal Man,” Tommy is living in a self-imposed exile after all the trauma he’s faced over the previous six seasons, including the death of his daughter. From the beginning of season 1, Tommy has been depressed and suffering from PTSD due to his experiences in World War I.
Over the course of the show, he also endures countless traumas, from the death of his first love Grace (Annabelle Wallis) to the death of his aunt Polly (Helen McCrory) to the death of his sister Ada (Sophie Rundle). He also murdered his cousin Michael (Finn Cole) and his brother Arthur (Paul Anderson), which weighed heavily on him.
Tommy had been prepared for death for a long time. But “Immortal Man” gives him one last task.
While Tommy lives alone and isolated from society, his estranged son Duke (Barry Keoghan) leads his old gang, the Peaky Blinders, and causes chaos.
Tommy will have to return to Birmingham to stop Duke.
After helping Duke, Duke’s aunt, Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson), says she will help Tommy find “peace”.
At first Duke appears to enjoy killing Tommy. He feels abandoned and angry at the world because Tommy didn’t raise him up.
However, father and son eventually mend fences and become allies.
Kaulo then gives Duke a bullet with Tommy’s name engraved on it. She tells Duke that he must shoot Tommy as the only way to bring about “peace”. Yay!
Duke is clearly distraught. Tommy eventually confronts Caulo and reveals that he knows of her plans. In typical Tommy fashion, he’s annoyed but doesn’t really care.
Later, during a confrontation between Tommy and the Immortal Man villain Beckett (Tim Roth), Tommy is shot multiple times in the gut. He then stands in front of Beckett’s speeding car and attempts to crash it.
Duke tackles Tommy before he “drives himself” and saves his life.
Tommy then hugs Duke, tells him to kill him, and forces the gun into Duke’s hand.
“I’m a horse, and I would do it for a horse,” he told Duke, referring to the common practice of killing a horse if it broke its leg.
Tommy coaxes Duke into shooting him in the chest while hugging each other, and Duke tears up when he sees his body.
So, technically, Tommy would be killed by his son. However, he is effectively forcing his son to do it, and Duke is not happy about it.
Tommy’s last words are a phrase used in the show, “in the dark depths of winter,” which signifies his acceptance of death.
The final scene is when Duke holds Tommy’s funeral, with Murphy’s voiceover telling us that Tommy will be joining his deceased family “wherever they are.” His voiceover says, “Burn my body and blow away the ashes. I’m free.”
It’s a tragic ending, but all in all, it’s a fitting swan song for Gangster.
Tommy wanted to die from the beginning of the show. He also lived a violent life, so it doesn’t seem right for him to grow old and die peacefully.
Netflix has announced that it will produce a sequel series to Peaky Blinders about a new generation of Shelby.
Although Keoghan has not been announced as the lead, “The Immortal Man” serves as a definitive conclusion to Tommy’s story. It is also a clear stepping stone for Duke to carry the torch.
