There are some story tropes that are simply unimpeachable. That includes “a great warrior comes out of retirement for one last battle.” lf that’s the premise of your story you have a rock solid foundation for your movie. When that warrior is Tommy F***ing Shelby, you already have a whole building, too. And that’s why the fantastic new trailer for Netflix’s Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man has us ready to go to battle with Cillian Murphy. Because while Tommy might look a little older, he’s still as fearsome as ever. And he has a whole lot of fighting, against many enemies, left to do.
Hot damn. Now that’s a trailer. Also, that’s a cast. Murphy and Rebecca Ferguson alone would make that true. Unlike some TV shows that return with movies that can’t justify their existence, this trailer shows why this story will enrich the world of Peaky Blinders. Set years after season six, it finds Tommy’s illegitimate son Duke (Barry Keoghan) running his father’s criminal organization while Tommy lives in seclusion.
“When we meet him, he’s as broken as he has been. He’s just medicating and living in this purgatory that he’s created for himself in this big old house,” Murphy told Netflix’s Tudum, “He’s in this liminal space, not really living, he’s not really dead. He’s ignoring the world, he’s ignoring his family.”
He won’t stay in hiding for long, though. Not when fascism threatens the entire world. How could he? He might have white hair, and he might not have quite achieved everything he hoped, but he’s still Tommy F***ing Shelby. And as the film’s official synopsis also reveals, he’ll be forced to remember that.
Birmingham, 1940. Amidst the chaos of WWII, Tommy Shelby is driven back from a self-imposed exile to face his most destructive reckoning yet. With the future of the family and the country at stake, Tommy must face his own demons, and choose whether to confront his legacy, or burn it to the ground. By order of the Peaky Blinders…
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man also stars Stephen Graham, Tim Roth, and Sophie Rundle. The movie—with its perfect trope and perfect character to pull it off—arrives in select theaters on March 6. It will then stream on Netflix starting March 20.