BBC's hit drama Peaky Blinders will come to a close after its sixth and final season, but the show's creator and writer, Steven Knight, has assured fans that the story will “continue in another form.” Starring Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Inception, Red Eye), the series centers around Tommy Shelby (Murphy) and his notorious family’s rise to power against the backdrop of working-class, post-WWI Birmingham. After a significant delay due to the pandemic, Peaky Blinders recently resumed production in the U.K. under string COVID-19 guidelines.
Fans of the show are likely to be surprised by today's announcement seeing as Knight previously told Entertainment Weekly that his plans for the series involve a sixth and seventh season. “I’m planning to keep the story going until the first air raid siren of the Second World War,” he said in October 2019. “Then it will be a true story of a family between the wars. That will involve season 6 and season 7. I’m pretty close to completing season 6 in terms of scripts, and then we’ll shoot that, and then I will embark on season 7. And then, if the energy is still continuing to grow, and the feeling around the world is still so positive, then we’ll think about how the story can continue in other forms.”
Unfortunately, the pandemic has taken its toll on Peaky Blinders, and after a year's delay in production, the new plan is to wrap the series by the end of season 6. While talking about the show's inevitable return on Monday, Knight said: “’Peaky’ is back and with a bang. After the enforced production delay due to the Covid pandemic, we find the family in extreme jeopardy and the stakes have never been higher. We believe this will be the best series of all and are sure that our amazing fans will love it. While the TV series will be coming to an end, the story will continue in another form.”
While an end to the TV series is forthcoming, it's possible that the Peaky Blinders universe could be explored in a movie or spin-off show.
Executive producer Caryn Mandabach said: “Along with our wonderful, supportive partners at BBC and Netflix, we have been working diligently to ensure we can get ‘Peaky’ safely back into production; the safety of our cast and crew is always our priority. Thank you to all the ‘Peaky’ fans who have been so unwaveringly supportive and patient. Steve’s scripts are incredible and mark the end of an epic story that has entranced audiences since it first started in 2013, but the world of ‘Peaky Blinders’ will most definitely live on.”
You've all heard the famous T.S. Elliot quote "The end is just the beginning," yeah? Perhaps that's the case for Peaky Blinders, and in time fans of the show can look forward to other stories unfolding in the Peaky universe. We'll be sure to keep our eye out for any plans or updates and will be sure to let you know as soon as they come about. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy season 6, which is expected to air later this year or in early 2022, depending on the pandemic, obviously.