'Silo' Star Rebecca Ferguson Joins the 'Peaky Blinders' Movie

Rumors have been swirling about a Peaky Blinders movie for so long that it's honestly a bit jarring to see the production engine that will return the Shelby family to our screens begin to rumble to life. But, as they say, good things come to those who wait, and fans are finally about to reap the rewards of years of patience. Silo star Rebecca Ferguson is the first high-profile name set to join the film's cast, but it's unlikely that she'll be the last. 

Details about who she'll be playing are being kept under wraps, but her addition adds a welcome jolt of fierce female energy to a show that's been missing it since the passing of Helen McCrory, who played the irrepressible Polly Gray. Aside from Ferguson, the film's only other confirmed cast member is Oscar winner Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), who plays family leader, antihero, and general moral disaster Tommy Shelby. 

Murphy's involvement has always been taken as read, though --- Peaky doesn't work without Tommy, whose struggles against his better angels and worse demons have always been the heart of the show.  

That said, given the plot threads teased in the TV series finale, it does seem very likely that we'll see some combination of Paul Anderson (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as Arthur, Sophie Rundle (After the Flood) as Ada, Harry Kirton (Grey Matter) as Finn and Conrad Khan (The Burning Girls) as Duke. Aside from the ongoing interfamily conflict between Finn and Duke, it seems extra cruel to allow Tommy's siblings to keep believing he's dead. But how the "new life" he set off to find at the end of the series will inevitably collide with the one he left behind is a question only the film itself can answer.

Plot details about the film are still largely being kept quiet, though Knight previously told Deadline that it would be set during World War II. (Granted, he told them this back in 2022, but this movie has had such a long gestation period, it's likely that detail is probably true.) 

“I’m genuinely thrilled that this movie is about to happen," Knight said in a statement when the film was announced. "It will be an explosive chapter in the Peaky Blinders story. No holds barred. Full-on Peaky Blinders at war.”

Tom Harper (War & Peace) will direct from a script written by Knight. (Harper has previous Peaky experience, having helmed the back half of Season 1.) Producers are Caryn Mandabach, Knight, Murphy, and Guy Heeley. Executive producers include Harper, David Kosse, Jamie Glazebrook, Andrew Warren, and David Mason. The feature will be made in association with BBC Film. 

"When I first directed Peaky Blinders over 10 years ago, we didn’t know what the series would become, but we did know that there was something in the alchemy of the cast and the writing that felt explosive," Harper said. "Peaky has always been a story about family — and so it’s incredibly exciting to be reuniting with Steve and Cillian to bring the movie to audiences across the world on Netflix.”

Production on the still-untiled film is set to begin this Fall. Seasons 1-6 of Peaky Blinders are currently streaming on Netflix.