Jamie Bell and Charlie Heaton are set to lead a new era of “Peaky Blinders.”
Bell (“All of Us Strangers,” “Rocket Man”) will step into the role of Duke Shelby, the eldest son of Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy. The character was previously portrayed by Conrad Khan in the final season of the original series and by Barry Keoghan in the recent Netflix film, “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.” The streamer also shared a first look at Bell in character.
Heaton (“Stranger Things,” “Industry”) is confirmed to join the cast, but his role is still being kept under wraps.
The forthcoming series, written and created by original “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight, takes the story into the 1950s, a decade after the events of “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.”
In this next chapter, Duke Shelby, played by Bell (“All of Us Strangers,” “Rocket Man”), steps into the Shelby family’s shadow as Birmingham undergoes a brutal post-war transformation. “Older, wiser, more ambitious, and most certainly more dangerous,” Duke becomes the central figure in a city “of unprecedented opportunity and jeopardy,” according to the series logline.
The streamer shared a second series based on “Peaky Blinders” was also in the works, but did not provide additional details.
Joining Bell and Heaton in the cast are Jessica Brown Findlay (“Harlots,” “Downton Abbey”), Lashana Lynch (“No Time to Die,” “The Day of The Jackal”), and Lucy Karczewski (“Stereophonic”), who makes her television debut. Roles for these actors will be revealed at a later date.
The two new six-episode series are being produced by Banijay UK’s Kudos (“SAS Rogue Heroes,” “House of Guinness”) and Garrison Drama (“Peaky Blinders” series 1-6, “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man”) for Netflix globally and BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK. Filming is underway at Digbeth Loc. Studios and across Birmingham, returning the series to the city that helped make the original show a worldwide phenomenon.
Knight expressed excitement about the project saying, “I am thrilled that we are announcing a new era of Peaky Blinders, moving the story to post-war Birmingham in the early ’50s. We are incredibly fortunate to have Jamie Bell taking the role of Tommy Shelby’s oldest son, Duke, and to have the incredible Charlie Heaton also leading the cast. There are more exciting cast announcements to come, and Peaky is on the road again.”
“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” directed by Tom Harper, launched on Netflix earlier this year and became the streamer’s number one film globally for two weeks. Since its debut on BBC Two in 2013, Peaky Blinders has earned a massive international following and critical acclaim, including the 2018 BAFTA for Best Drama Series.
