The BBC has confirmed that Peaky Blinders is set to return with two new series following a new generation of the Shelby family.
READ MORE: Here’s everything we know about the ‘Peaky Blinders’ movie
As was announced today (October 2), Steven Knight‘s period drama about gangsters in 1920s Birmingham has been commissioned for two more seasons, each comprising six episodes.
Starring Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, the series was thought to have ended with its sixth season back in 2022, with the two upcoming seasons now set to follow a new generation of the Shelby clan in the aftermath of the Second World War.
“I’m thrilled to be announcing this new chapter in the Peaky Blinders story,” said Knight in a press release. “Once again, it will be rooted in Birmingham and will tell the story of a city rising from the ashes of the Birmingham blitz. The new generation of Shelbys have taken the wheel and it will be a hell of a ride.”
Cast members are yet to be announced, and it is currently unknown whether previous stars like Murphy would be returning, but the Oppenheimer actor is on board as an executive producer for the new seasons.
The forthcoming series will be produced by Garrison Drama and Kudos, whose other titles include SAS Rogue Heroes and the recent Netflix series House of Guinness, which earned a three-star review from NME.
“Compared to Peaky Blinders,” wrote Paul Bradshaw, “we have here a much more interesting backdrop to a much less interesting set of characters.
“The result is a story that feels thin: characters you only half care about, depths that get skated over, and a style-over-substance pint that could have used a slightly better head.”
The new seasons of Peaky Blinders will be shot at Birmingham’s Digbeth Loc Studios, and will air on BBC One in the UK and Netflix globally, with no release date confirmed at the time of writing.
In 2024, he mentioned that there may be another show in the pipeline that focused “on the new generation”, and later told Times Radio that the upcoming film “won’t be the end”.
Written by Knight and directed by Peaky season one’s Tom Harper, the new film will see Murphy back on screen alongside other returning cast members Stephen Graham and Sophie Rundle.
There will also be some new faces amongst the Shelbys, including Saltburn and Bird’s Barry Keoghan, Dune and Silo’s Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth and Jay Lycurgo, who join the cast in still-unknown roles. Plot details are still under wraps, though Knight has said that it is set during World War II.
He has been talking about a Peaky Blinders movie since before the sixth season even aired, but COVID caused a number of delays and Netflix only greenlit the project last June. Production started at the end of September and wrapped at the end of last year, and no firm date has been announced yet – although Netflix says it’s coming “soon”.
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