Why Rewatching Peaky Blinders Is So Hard For Cillian Murphy

There's no doubt that one of the biggest selling points in Steven Knight's long-running period crime drama "Peaky Blinders" is the steely-eyed antihero at the center of it all. Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby has become one of the coolest characters in television history, regularly going up against opposing gang leaders, corrupt police officers, and even far-right Nazi parties. But while it might be an excellent watch for audiences, the man underneath the flat cap — after which the show is named — has struggled to watch his own work spanning the beloved six seasons, forcing himself to do so only after becoming an executive producer on the show. But the awkwardness of having to watch his own performance wasn't the only difficult part about rewatching the series.

In an interview with GQ Magazine, the Oscar-winning actor talked about getting back into the swing of things as Shelby after parting ways with the character in 2022 with the final season. Murphy acknowledged that watching his work became necessary to ensure that not just his performance but the rest of the show was also at a suitable standard. "Since I started producing — I was a producer on 'Peaky' — you kind of have to. It kind of takes the curse off of it. It was very nice watching it because it was actually quite a good show," he said. The only setback was having to rewatch episodes that housed one of the best performances in the series from an actor who is sorely missed — Helen McRory as Tommy's sister, Polly.

As he sat through the show upon rewatch, Cillian Murphy found himself reflecting on the remarkable work of Helen McCrory, who tragically passed away in 2021 before the sixth season went into production. Her loss resonated throughout the industry, but it was particularly felt among the "Peaky Blinders" cast and crew, of which she had been such an essential part since the beginning. "It was also quite heartbreaking, you know, because I was watching Helen McCrory, and we lost her," Murphy explained, as he revisited the series from the start to prepare for the highly anticipated film, "The Immortal Man." He continued, "But you can distance yourself from it and look at and say, 'Right, that's the atmosphere we want. That's the look we need, that's the silhouette, and that's the energy we need from it.' We need to turn it up for the movie, obviously."

Such demands must be met with "The Immortal Man," the "Peaky Blinders" movie which will follow on from the final season. Details are currently being kept under wraps, but we know that Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, and Tim Roth will join the world of old-school gangsters. We'll see how they handle things and the Shelby family when "The Immortal Man" is expected to arrive on Netflix in 2025.