- Cillian Murphy returns as Tommy Shelby alongside explosive new addition Barry Keoghan, who plays his estranged son Duke
- Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, and Stephen Graham join the film, bringing serious star power to the WWII-set story
- Fan favourites Arthur Shelby and Alfie Solomons are notably absent, and the film addresses one absence in a way that has already divided the fanbase
Four years. That is how long Peaky Blinders fans waited for Tommy Shelby to come back. And now that The Immortal Man is finally streaming on Netflix, the first question on everyone’s lips is not about the plot or the war-torn Birmingham streets. It is about the cast. Who is back? Who is new? And who is missing in a way that genuinely hurts?
Here is everything you need to know.
The Faces You Know and Missed
Cillian Murphy leads the returning cast as Tommy Shelby, and when we reunite with him in the film, he has isolated himself from the world and largely cut off contact with the Peaky Blinders, living in a purgatory of his own making, not really alive, not really dead. That restless, haunted energy Murphy brings to the role? Still completely intact.
Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Ian Peck, and Stephen Graham all reprise their roles from the original series. Stephen Graham, who fans will remember as Hayden Stagg in Season 6, is back and as magnetic as ever. If you were worried the film would strip away the gritty soul of the original show, these familiar faces go a long way toward putting that fear to rest.
The Newcomers Who Are Stealing the Whole Thing
This is where it gets genuinely exciting. Barry Keoghan plays Erasmus “Duke” Shelby, Tommy’s illegitimate son, who has taken over the day-to-day criminal operations of the Peaky Blinders and is now running amok with a new generation of dangerous young men. Early reactions have already called Keoghan a terrific addition, and given what the Irish actor has done in recent years, nobody should be surprised.
Then there is Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Kaulo, the twin of Tommy’s late lover Zelda, a mysterious and almost mystical presence whose arrival is designed to pull Tommy back from isolation and help guide his son into the future. Ferguson has described the character as both airy and razor-sharp, and that contradiction alone sounds like something worth watching.
Tim Roth rounds out the major new additions as John Beckett, a cold and calculated Nazi sympathiser working with Hitler to flood Britain with counterfeit currency and collapse the economy from within. A villain built for these dark, wartime stakes.
Who Did Not Make It Back
Here is the part that stings. Paul Anderson does not appear as Arthur Shelby, Tommy’s right-hand man for six full seasons. The film handles his absence by confirming the character has died before the events of the movie, a decision that has already sparked heated debate among fans. Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons is also nowhere to be found, and his absence leaves a very particular kind of hole that only great, unpredictable dialogue can fill.
The film ultimately plays out as a two-hour character study, with Tommy confronting the sins of his past and grappling with what it means to leave a legacy worth anything at all. Whether that feels like a satisfying goodbye or an incomplete one might depend on how attached you were to the characters who did not make the cut.
Either way, the Peaky Blinders are back. And by order of the Shelby family, you should probably clear your evening.
