Final Season of 'Peaky Blinders' Gets a BBC Premiere Date
The beginning of the end is here: The BBC has announced that the final season of popular gangland period drama Peaky Blinders will premiere this February.
Set during the aftermath of World War I, the story follows the exploits of Tommy Shelby and his family, leaders of the infamous gang known as the Peaky Blinders. (Though the Shelbys are fictional, the gang they are a part of did exist during the 1890s, even if the real group never gained nearly as much power or influence as Tommy and his brothers wield.) As we head into the final season, the Peaky Blinders are reeling from a failed assassination attempt against fascist leader Oswald Mosley which has left several key players injured or dead, an event which may well have been caused by one of their own turning traitor.
The February 27 U.K. broadcast date for the final season was announced in especially dramatic fashion, by way of a 42-foot mural unveiled over Digbeth's Old Crow in Birmingham, home of the fictional Shelby clan.
27 February 2022. #PeakyBlinders @BBCiPlayer pic.twitter.com/woyBzScUlN
— Peaky Blinders (@ThePeakyBlinder) February 15, 2022
The final six-episode season stars Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Finn Cole, Sophie Rundle, and Stephen Graham, and the Season 6 trailer confirms that both Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Hardy are back for the series' end.
There's no word yet about how the series' final season will acknowledge the untimely death of Helen McCrory whose Aunt Polly Gray served as an emotional linchpin around which much of the show revolved. The actress tragically passed away early in 2021 while Season 6 was filming, but it's unknown whether she shot any scenes before her death. Creator Steven Knight has said that the final run of episodes will "certainly" feature a tribute of some sort to McCrory, but what that will ultimately look like is anyone's guess.
Many fans (including yours truly) are likely hoping the show finds some way to give the character something close to a happy ending, rather than simply killing her off to spark further conflict between her son Michael and her nephew Tommy. (Personally, I want to believe Polly retires to her dead fiance Aberama's farm to raise horses or something and Tommy just namedrops her occasionally while she lives her best life offscreen.)
There's also no word about when U.S. fans can expect to see the final season of Peaky Blinders here in the States. If past is prologue, it's likely to be several months between the conclusion of the show's run on the BBC and its premiere on Netflix, meaning that Season 6 may well not arrive here until the Fall. But, although Season 6 will mark the official conclusion of Peaky Blinders as a television series, it won't be the last time we see the Shelby family. A feature film is in the works, one that is reportedly meant to serve as the conclusion to the series' story.
Peaky Blinders Seasons 1-5 are currently streaming on Netflix.
