Not Everyone Is Immortal in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

Spoilers follow for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, now streaming on Netflix.

Like most gangster movies, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man reunites the gang only to start eliminating its members. If you’ve seen the original Peaky Blinders series, you’ll know creator Steven Knight isn’t afraid to kill off characters – by gun, knife, explosion, or any other violent means. He uses every method imaginable.

As a huge fan of Peaky Blinders, I always felt the showrunners were a little too precious with certain characters. While some, like John Shelby, sadly didn’t make it, others felt almost untouchable. Tommy Shelby, especially, was protected at all costs! Remember that whole brain tumor storyline? It turned out the doctors were actually Nazis trying to manipulate him! It was a bit much, honestly. But the finale did offer him a sense of closure. After everything – the war, building a criminal empire, all the terrible things he’d ordered – we saw him finally find some peace, symbolized by burning his past and riding off on that white horse. It was a surprisingly hopeful ending for a man carrying so much guilt.

As a huge Peaky Blinders fan, I just finished watching Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, and it’s a wild ride! It picks up around seven years after the series finale, in 1940, and Tommy Shelby is still battling his demons. But now he’s got a new problem: his son, Duke (played by Barry Keoghan, taking over the role), has taken over the Peaky Blinders and is apparently even more ruthless than Tommy ever was. Things get really intense when Duke makes a deal with a British double agent, John Beckett, to basically sabotage the UK economy with counterfeit German money and open the door for a Nazi takeover – which, knowing Tommy, is a line he won’t let get crossed. The film follows Tommy as he steps back into his old roles – heading the Peaky Blinders and leading the Romani people – to try and fix this mess. Expect plenty of twists, turns, and, of course, a massive shootout. I’ve got all the details on who doesn’t make it out alive, if you’re curious about the body count.

Assorted Shelby associates — alive

Being on Tommy Shelby’s side is a good place to be. Almost everyone who works with or helps him seems to come out okay, even when facing dangerous enemies like Beckett and a large group of Nazis attempting to enter the country through Liverpool’s port. This includes characters like Hayden Stagg, the dockworker and union rep, who survives being shot and manages to destroy several Nazis; Charlie Strong and Curly, who assist Tommy with planning and carrying out his attack; Johnny Dogs, Tommy’s loyal driver and housekeeper; and Elijah, who initially supports Duke but ultimately recognizes Tommy as the true leader of the Peaky Blinders. Remarkably, the Peaky Blinders don’t suffer any losses during this conflict.

Kaulo Chiriklo — alive

Rebecca Ferguson plays dual roles as Roma twins Kaulo and Zelda Chiriklo, and the storyline revisits some past events. It’s revealed that Duke is the son Tommy had with a Roma woman named Zelda, whom he lost contact with after World War I. Previously, it was stated Zelda died because of discrimination when seeking medical care. Now, Kaulo arrives at Tommy’s estate, representing Zelda and asking for help for their son, Duke. Kaulo claims to be able to communicate with spirits and even allows Zelda’s spirit to speak to Tommy, sharing private memories. They eventually become intimate. Tommy later realizes Kaulo was working for Duke all along, and that Duke intends to kill him, framing it as a merciful release from his power. Years earlier, Tommy’s aunt Polly, who had psychic abilities, predicted his death would be signaled by a “blackbird,” and Tommy connects this to the Romani word for blackbird, “kaulo.” The plot is complicated, but it also serves as practice for Rebecca Ferguson’s manipulative character, Lady Jessica, before her return in Dune: Part Three. She ultimately survives and remains loyal to Duke.

Ada Shelby — dead

Watching Kaulo survive in The Immortal Man felt really odd, especially considering how badly the show treats its female characters. It started with a devastating bomb attack that wiped out a whole factory of women making munitions. Then, Ada Shelby (Sophie Rundle) was shockingly shot in the street by Beckett, all because of information Duke gave him. It’s complicated, but Duke was actually spotted at the bombing, stealing weapons from the wreckage. Ada, as a Parliament representative for Birmingham, found out and was gathering statements against him to take to the military police. Beckett found out about this and decided to silence Ada to protect Duke and keep their illegal currency scheme going. It’s just awful – Ada tried so hard to get Tommy to connect with his son, but she was killed in the street anyway. And the worst part? Her death is used to force Tommy and Duke to work together, which is just… terrible.

Arthur Shelby — dead

Paul Anderson, who played Arthur in all six seasons of the show, recently shared that he isn’t in the new movie, The Immortal Man. This was surprising, considering the series ended with the brothers in a relatively good place. While they often clashed, Tommy’s cancer diagnosis brought them closer, and the ending hinted Arthur would even sacrifice himself to be with Tommy after death. The movie reveals Arthur is actually dead, and Tommy visits his grave daily. Initially, it seems Tommy is just burdened by guilt over not being able to save Arthur, who supposedly died by suicide. However, Tommy later shockingly confesses to Kaulo that he intentionally killed his brother, admitting he had the chance to save him but chose not to, simply because he wanted to be rid of him. Despite the film’s other unusual moments, Tommy killing Arthur feels particularly unbelievable—after years of enduring Arthur’s behavior, he suddenly kills him just because he’s become annoying?

John Beckett — dead

Okay, some good news: Beckett’s enemy finally meets his end! While Beckett makes it through the explosion at his Liverpool headquarters, Tommy shoots him as he attempts to flee. Honestly, good riddance.

Nazis and Nazi sympathizers — dead

Most characters end up killed—either by explosions or gunfire. There’s also the one unfortunate guy Duke stabs and then, disturbingly, feeds to pigs as a demonstration of his allegiance to Beckett. It’s… a lot. Moving on.

The one soldier who stepped to Tommy — dead

It’s ironic that a show so focused on the lasting trauma of war portrays a WWII soldier as unlikeable. When Tommy returns to the Peaky Blinders, he finds the Garrison pub – their old headquarters – has been turned into a rowdy, disrespectful place with drunk soldiers and scantily clad women. He’s appalled by the disrespect to their former base. This leads to a violent confrontation with a soldier who patronizes Tommy and threatens him. Tommy responds by pulling the pin on a grenade and dropping it into the soldier’s shirt, causing him to run outside and explode. He then shoots the gramophone and delivers a sarcastic line about music in pubs. Despite this extreme reaction and violence, Tommy doesn’t even end up using the Garrison for meetings. It’s a strange turn of events to be fighting Nazis to protect your country, then turn around and kill one of your own soldiers. Rest in peace to Tom Mahy, who played the British soldier.

Duke Shelby — alive

Duke consistently chooses to side with the Garrison pub over Tommy, often either feeling sorry for himself or getting riled up by his aunt Kaulo, who pushes him a lot. To be honest, Duke’s character in The Immortal Man isn’t well-developed. He quickly changes from a harsh leader who intimidates his crew to someone who desperately seeks Tommy’s approval, which doesn’t make sense considering he’s supposedly in his late 20s. The film doesn’t give enough time to make either of Duke’s personalities – the cruel one before Ada’s death or the remorseful one after – feel realistic or interesting. It’s also strange that Duke, who everyone considers a poor leader for both the Peaky Blinders and the Roma, is unexpectedly positioned as the rightful heir to both at the end, despite not earning the position. He only manages to deceive Beckett into thinking he betrayed Tommy, and given Duke’s long-standing estrangement from his father, that shouldn’t have been difficult. But, like everything else, it seems like family connections matter most in The Immortal Man.

Tommy Shelby — dead

Yes, Tommy Shelby does die in the film. Given how unhappy and tormented he’s been throughout The Immortal Man, death feels like the only logical conclusion to his story. A simple happy ending wouldn’t be fitting. He briefly returns to lead the Peaky Blinders one last time, symbolically confronting his enemies, before a powerfully filmed final sequence. The trauma of the trenches has always haunted Tommy, and this time he deliberately enters a similar dangerous environment—the abandoned tunnels under Liverpool—to ambush Beckett and defeat his forces. He’s finally confronting his past and accepting his mortality, meeting Beckett’s car head-on, much like a scene from Sons of Anarchy. While the actual cause of death—a bullet from Duke—feels almost secondary, Tommy dies on his own terms, reuniting with his siblings in the afterlife. It’s a little strange that the film doesn’t address the fate of Finn Shelby, who betrayed the family, but Tommy seems to leave that issue for Duke to handle. Given how well Paul Mescal plays Duke, a future sequel—perhaps titled Peaky Blinders: The New Guard—remains a possibility.

Tommy’s book agent — seemingly alive

At the start of The Immortal Man, we find out Tommy has been writing a book – unsurprisingly, titled The Immortal Man. He’s been diligently working on it, either typing on a typewriter or writing by hand. As he travels by ship towards Liverpool, we see him typing away, determined to finish the book before facing potential danger. It’s a humorous image, but it highlights Tommy’s dedication – he prioritized his typewriter, ribbons, and pages just as much as any weapons! Eventually, Kaulo gives the completed manuscript to Duke, hoping it will help him understand his father. However, I prefer to imagine the book found its way back to Tommy’s agent and became the story we’ve been watching throughout the series.

2026-03-20 23:56