“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” writer explains why those deaths had to happen
“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” writer explains why those deaths had to happen
Samantha HighfillSun, March 22, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC
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Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in 'Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man'Credit: Netflix
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) knows death. He always has, ever since his experience in No Man's Land during WWI. But as Peaky Blinders wrapped up its six-seasons-and-a-movie story with The Immortal Man, the beloved gangster became more familiar than ever before.
When the movie picks up, we find Tommy in a dark place, resolving himself to a lonely life of writing. As we quickly learn, his isolation is explainable in part because he killed his brother Arthur (Paul Anderson).
"We find him in a place where he's withdrawn from the world," Peaky creator Steven Knight tells Entertainment Weekly. "He's haunted by the things he's done. And we learn that there's another reason why he's so haunted, and it's because he killed his brother. Here's a man who spent his life protecting family. Everything was about family. The reason he gave for the bad things he did is because it was good for the family. So this has broken all of his own codes."
Sophie Rundle as Ada in 'Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man'Credit: Netflix
It takes a visit from a gypsy queen and an opportunity to help his remaining family to get Tommy back into his three-piece suit. "For family, he's invited to come back to the world and save his son," Knight says. "And that's what he does."
But Tommy's journey to save his son Duke (Barry Keoghan) is abruptly interrupted when, on his way into town, his last remaining sibling, Ada (Sophie Rundle), is brutally shot and killed in the street.
"I've always loved the character of Ada. I'd named Ada after my grandmother," Knight reveals. "She was a force of nature and someone who held the family together all through the series. Every time Tommy has a problem with strategy, he went to Polly [Helen McCrory], but when he had a problem of the heart, he went to Ada."
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So why kill her in such a shocking way?
"It's an expression of the nature of violence and the idea that at that time, death was like that. The bomb drops, you're gone. So I wanted to reflect that. But then we do see her again in the world."
Specifically, we see her when she appears to Tommy as a spirit, standing in the road.
But Ada's death was not the last. Tommy himself, after he avenges his sister and saves his son, asks Duke to shoot him. (He's already wounded and on his way out.) Duke abides, and gives Tommy the peace for which he's long been searching.
Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in 'Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man'Credit: Robert Viglasky/Netflix
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As Knight previously told EW, Tommy's story was always going to end in death. "I thought, to end it, he's gonna have to go," he said, referencing Tommy's experience in WWI, saying, "from then on, everything after that was a bonus."
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in select theaters and available on Netflix.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
