Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Peaky Blinders, Cillian Murphy, Entertainment, Netflix, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Peaky Blinders, Cillian Murphy, Entertainment, Netflix, TV And Film
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, has defended his decision to include a highly controversial Arthur Shelby storyline in his latest film/
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man was released on Friday (20 Mar), four years after the conclusion of the hit BBC series.
Season six ended with deeply disturbed troublemaker Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, setting his ties to the criminal world ablaze (literally) and starting anew following the death of his daughter, Ruby, the departure of his wife, Lizzie, and a fatal showdown with his nephew, Michael.
Advert
His older brother, Arthur, played by Paul Anderson, had finally gotten clean and taken revenge for the murder of Aunt Polly. Mistakenly convinced that Tommy has died, however, the series ends with Arthur mourning his brother.
Announcing a final film instalment to the franchise, Knight revealed that a number of key characters were set to make a return.
Murphy was to reprise his role as the uber-cool gangster boss, alongside series favourites Ada Shelby (Sophie Rundle), Charlie Strong (Ned Dennehy) and Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee).
It was subsequently confirmed, however, that Arthur Shelby wasn’t to make an appearance in the Brummie blockbuster.
The movie is set in 1940, while Britain is in the midst of the Second World War. It kicks off by revealing that while his son, Charles, fights on the front lines, Tommy is still in Birmingham, battling some personal demons of his own, including the death of his brother, Arthur.
Viewers quickly learn, however, that it was actually Tommy who killed his beloved big brother in a drunken fit of anger, after Arthur stole his car, a move that has largely failed to impress die-hard fans of the show.
"The idea that Tommy would kill Arthur for his own freedom… doesn’t make sense," one X user wrote. "Tommy would rather end his own suffering and join his loved ones than harm his brother. THIS IS SO OUT OF CHARACTER."
Another agreed: "I’m very confused as to how Arthur Shelby was written off because it just wouldn’t make sense for Tommy to do that it feels so out of character for him."
"Can we just all agree as a collective fandom tho that Arthur’s plot was absolute bullst?!?!?" a third questioned. "Like just thinking about it p****d me the fk off. Steven really had Tommy say ‘I wanted to rid myself of my brother…’ WTF!!!"
The same critic continued: "The ultimate tragedy to fuck up Tommy completely but over 6 seasons, the one huge redeeming quality of Tommy is how he cares for and loves his family (even though he sucks at showing those emotions) and now you want me to believe that Tommy murdered his own brother?"
In light of the backlash the storyline received, Knight stood firm by his decision, claiming on the Immortal Man podcast that Arthur’s death was necessary to explain Tommy’s guilt at the beginning of the movie.
After confessing that the killing hadn’t always been the plan, the creator continued: "Sometimes something occurs to you that explains what you’ve been writing. I was writing this intense guilt. And then you think, 'Well, that’s why he’s so guilty. Because it was him'."
Knight added that he’d hoped Arthur’s death would provide an end to Tommy’s journey, given that ‘everything’ he’s ‘ever stood for is family’.
"And here he is, he shot his own brother," he went on. "Everything falls apart after that.
"There is nothing left because everything you’ve ever stood for, everything you’ve represented, has gone. Tommy Shelby killed his everything all at once."
Despite failing to appear in the film, Arthur actor Anderson previously told LADbible that Knight had kept him in the loop with his character’s fate.
"I think it’s great," Anderson insisted. "I mean, it’s such a powerful thing to do. It’s something you don’t see on TV."