Cillian Murphy, the actor of Peaky Blinders, has kept fans guessing about his prospective comeback to the show.
The 47-year-old actor played Thomas Shelby in the hit BBC series from 2013 until its finale in 2022.
In the years thereafter, there has been much talk regarding a feature film based on the crime group that operates in post-World War I Birmingham.
The show’s creator and writer, Steven Knight, revealed that one was on the way.
However, despite his prior statement that the project will begin in 2024, there has been no confirmation of a screenplay or a filming timeline.
It’s also uncertain if the show’s lead would return, despite Cillian teasing his involvement multiple times.
What do we know about the Peaky Blinders movie?
Late last year Steven said he was finishing the script for the movie spin-off.
‘I’m just working on the final bits of it at the moment. I just sit down at the keyboard and start,’ he told the Radio Times.
‘It’s a bit like having a dream, for me. You sit there and all this stuff comes, and then you read it back and think, “That’s pretty good – but where did it come from?”.’
He stated that shooting would begin in the middle of this year.
When commemorating the show’s tenth anniversary last year, he also stated that ‘the story is not yet over’.
Although not much is known about the narrative, Steven previously stated that the show will conclude with the first air-raid siren in Birmingham in 1939.
Fans hypothesised that because it was never broadcast on television, it may happen in the film instead.
Speaking in 2022, Steven also of the film: ‘I know what the story is and I’m writing at the moment. It’s a very specific story, that’s based on a true story from the Second World War and will be told in the “Peaky” way.’
What has Cillian Murphy said about appearing in the Peaky Blinders movie?
In September 2022, five months after the show ended, Steven said Cillian was set to reprise his role in the big screen adaptation.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, he said: ‘It is phenomenal [to know Cillian is returning] and he’s a phenomenal actor and human being.’
‘It’s fantastic to know he will be around for the film.’
Soon after Cillian hinted his return and told Deadline: ‘I’d be as excited as anybody to read a script. But I think it’s good for everyone to have a little break. That’s always a healthy thing, and then we can regroup.’
However last year he said joked he was sick of getting asked about the movie ‘all the time’.
‘That’s probably the worst thing about Peaky Blinders – getting asked about the movie all the time!,’ he told Radio Times.
He added: ‘I would love to do a movie if there’s more story to tell. I’ll wait and see but I have no update for you on that.’
Speaking on BBC’s Desert Island Discs last month Cillian said he was initially ‘relieved’ when the crime drama ended but was keen to reprise the role of the crime gang leader.
‘To be totally honest with you, it was a bit of relief to take a break,’ he admitted.
‘I felt like we’d done such excellent work and I really loved the ambiguity of the ending.’
The sixth season ended with a cliffhanger, as Tommy was given an open-ended fate.
In the interview, Cillian said that if Steven ‘delivers a script that I know he can deliver, because he is such a phenomenal writer, I’ll be there’.
‘If we want to watch 50-year-old Tommy Shelby, I will be there. Let’s do it,’ he said.
However, this week comments he made at the Oscars indicated he may have changed his mind.
Asked after the ceremony whether he was happy to retire Tommy, he said: ‘I loved playing him. He was exhausting and so wildly different for me that each time going back was kind of a journey.
‘I’m really not sentimental about work. I feel like the next thing is the most exciting thing.
‘And I mean, it was a ten-year period in my life, so it is significant, but I always feel, like, let’s keep moving.’
What projects has he been in since Peaky Blinders ended?
Before joining Peaky Blinders, Cillian had his professional debut in Enda Walsh’s 1996 play Disco Pigs, which he later performed in the 2001 film adaption.
His early film credits include the horror movie 28 Days Later (2002), Intermission (2003), Red Eye (2005), The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), and Sunshine (2007).
His performance in the 2005 film Breakfast on Pluto garnered him a Golden Globe nomination.
The actor began working with director Christopher Nolan in 2005, as Scarecrow in The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) and starring in Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017).
His first significant performance following Peaky Blinders was as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s film Oppenheimer, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at this week’s event.
He will next star in the film Small Things Like These.
Peaky Blinders is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
Source My Celebrity Life.