Everything We Know About 'Peaky Blinders' Season 6

We'll get to see more of Britain's favorite crime family in summer 2022.

tommy peaky blinders season 6, cillian murphy in peaky blinders season 6
Cillian Murphy in 'Peaky Blinders' Season 6 | Matt Squire/Netflix
Cillian Murphy in 'Peaky Blinders' Season 6 | Matt Squire/Netflix

The fifth season of the Netflix-by-way-of-the-BBC drama Peaky Blinders wrapped up with a cliffhanger finale that left more questions unanswered than resolved. Between failed schemes, surprising survivals, and shocking returns, the last episode of Season 5 threw things into chaos for Tommy Shelby and the rest of his old-fashioned razor gang. With production on the sixth and final season nearly complete, it won't be long now before we get to see more of Peaky Blinders. We're breaking down everything we know about the highly anticipated, upcoming season.

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When will Peaky Blinders Season 6 premiere?

The BBC confirmed that Peaky Blinders Season 6 would begin airing on BBC One on February 27, 2022, at 9pm, via a mural that went up in the Shelby clan's home of Birmingham, painted by the street artist Akse. In March, Netflix confirmed that all episodes of the show would arrive on the streaming platform here in the US on June 10

Still a bit of a wait, but the next season is absolutely worth getting excited for, as it comes two and a half years since the fifth season hit Netflix in 2019. The pandemic greatly delayed the show from being able to move into production as planned, but now that new episodes are on the way—and because you just can't keep a good gangster down—it's time to dust off those dark coats and flat caps. 

Is Season 6 of Peaky Blinders the last season?

Yes and no. The bad news is that, in January 2021, when the BBC confirmed that Season 6 had just started production, the network also confirmed that it would be the last. It's likely that the year's delay caused by the pandemic shutdown accelerated the network's plans to end the show with the next season. The good news is that the show's creator, Steven Knight, said that Peaky Blinders would indeed live on "in another form."

Deadline reported in 2018 that there were talks with the BBC about a potential Season 7, and Knight has previously stated that he was aiming for seven seasons. "My ambition is to make it a story of a family between two wars, so always I've wanted to end it with the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939," Knight said at the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards, per Digital Spy. "It'll take three more series [to reach that point]." Given Knight's intentions and the series' success, he is dead-set on making his conclusive movie happen, which he says will start filming "in the next 18 months to two years." 

How many episodes will be in Peaky Blinders Season 6?

Barring any major changes, we can expect Season 6 to have six episodes like other installments of the show.

While we may not know much about the season, one thing we know for sure is that the premiere will be titled "Black Day," thanks to a preproduction Instagram post from director Byrne. Sounds ominous.

Who's directing Peaky Blinders Season 6?

While Peaky Blinders has traditionally switched directors from season to season, this time Season 5 director Anthony Byrne is sticking around to direct Season 6 as well. "I really had to think about it because it's a massive commitment to make, but it felt like this series is part one of two," Byrne told GQ. "I think previous series had very definite endings, whereas I think this series doesn't end that way. So I felt more and more that I wanted to come back and finish this."

cillian murphy in peaky blinders season 6
Cillian Murphy in 'Peaky Blinders' Season 6 | BBC One/Netflix

Who's returning for Peaky Blinders Season 6?

Despite that Season 5 ending, Cillian Murphy is—shocker—confirmed to return as Tommy Shelby. Barring some dramatic twist, the rest of the Shelby family should return as well. That includes Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby, Sophie Rundle as Ada Thorne, Finn Cole as Michael Gray, Harry Kirton as Finn Shelby, and Natasha O'Keeffe as Lizzie Stark. We can also reasonably expect Packy Lee to return as Johnny Doggs, Jordan Bolger as Isaiah Jesus, and Charlie Murphy as Jessie Eden.

We'll also likely be seeing more of Sam Claflin's Oswald Mosley. Per Digital Spy and speaking to BBC Sounds' Obsessed with Peaky Blinders podcast, director Anthony Byrne said that Mosley and certain "people in his world" will be a part of Season 6 in addition to Anya Taylor-Joy's Gina Gray and her family. In that vein, we'll probably see Brian Gleeson reprise his role as Jimmy McCavern. And after his surprise return in Season 5, it's also possible that we'll see more of Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons in Season 6 as well.

Kate Phillips' return as Linda Shelby is a bit of a toss-up. Linda threatened to kill Arthur and ended up getting shot as a result, and while she survived, her reappearance is uncertain. Speaking to Digital Spy, Phillips said, "I'd like to think [Linda's] going to be around and maybe there might be some reconciliation, but also you know her fury is pretty palpable by the end of episode five... It does beg the question—how do you come back from trying to kill your husband?"

In some really sad news, Helen McCrory, who played the inimitable Shelby family matriarch Polly Gray on the show for five seasons, died of cancer in late April 2021. Because her diagnosis made it impossible for her to participate when the show restarted production, her character has been written out of the new season. 

As far as new cast members go, Amber Anderson (whom you may remember from Black Mirror's "The Waldo Moment") has been cast as an unknown character, probably a mysterious English socialite if the photo on her Instagram is any clue. Black Mirror's Conrad Khan has also been cast in an unknown role. Knight has also confirmed that Stephen Graham will be appearing in this season—he won't say who Graham is playing, but has said it's definitely not Al Capone.

Speaking of famous bad guys, there's a pretty powerful fan rumor going around that Rowan Atkinson (of Mr. Bean and Johnny English fame) will be playing Hitler, who is a known buddy of Oswald Mosley. The creators haven't confirmed anything like that, though. A number of bona fide celebs have also expressed interest in guesting on the show, from Brad Pitt to Snoop Dogg, A$AP Rocky, and Samuel L. Jackson, all of which Knight has said he'd be delighted to have on. (The role of Tommy originally almost went to Jason Statham.) Will Sam Jackson show up in 1930s Birmingham to call Tommy Shelby a motherfucker? We can only hope.

cillian murphy as thomas selby in season 6
Cillian Murphy in 'Peaky Blinders' Season 6 | Matt Squire/Netflix

What's the plot of Peaky Blinders Season 6?

The Season 5 finale was a bit of a doozy. Tommy had an entire scheme to take out his political rival, Oswald Mosley, a British fascist who did, in fact, exist in real life. Tommy broke out Barney, an expert sniper and old war buddy, in order to kill Mosley during a political rally. Of course, it backfired, ending with Shelby ally Aberama Gold dead and Tommy putting a gun to his head at the end of the episode. Mosley, however, is still very much alive, leaving further unresolved threads that will surely carry over into next season.

The biggest question at hand, however, is who betrayed Tommy and caused his plan to fail (we have some thoughts). Of course, Season 6 must also further grapple with Tommy's suicidal ideation—we're assuming that he doesn't die after Season 5, given that Cillian Murphy is confirmed to appear. While we might not know exactly what's going to happen with him, Murphy himself has called this season "dark as fuck," so best to prepare yourself. 

Past that, we also know that Season 6 will delve more into Gina's influential American family as well as people from Oswald Mosley's social circle. That being said, we won't be seeing much of the American mob. "I think it's a bit of a minefield, because it's been done a lot," series creator Steven Knight told Digital Spy. Knight has no intentions to touch the likes of Al Capone at any point in Peaky Blinders' future.

The new season will take us up to 1934, where "things are worse," Knight told NME. "The drum beat is getting louder, tensions are worse and Tommy is right in the middle of all that. Again, it will be an exploration of what was going on in the '30s and how certain things transpired." We can expect Season 6 to be just as firmly mired in the politics of the time as Season 5, and according to Knight, "it is a tragedy."

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