Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy: 'Season 6 is brilliant tribute to Helen McCrory'
The actor opens up about McCrory's death and filming season 6 without her.
After a long wait, Peaky Blinders' final season will land later this year, with Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby set to face enemies old and new.
As well as Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), the Shelbys will contend with Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons and a mysterious new character played by Stephen Graham, though we don't know at this stage whether he'll be friend or foe.
Sadly, Shelby clan matriarch Aunt Polly will not be appearing in the season, as actress Helen McCrory passed away from cancer last April.
Murphy, who has played the Birmingham gang leader turned politician for six seasons, spoke to Empire Magazine about how the new episodes are a "brilliant tribute" to the late actress.
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"What I always feel sad about is that we were about to shoot and then the pandemic happened and we had to stop," the actor said. "If we had shot then, Helen would've been in the show, and that makes me feel sad."
He added: "It's a huge loss; it's hard to comprehend it. Because she was the matriarch of the whole thing. As the character, but just also as her personality. But she's still present in series 6."
Murphy went on to explain how creator Steven Knight had "managed to keep her very, very present, which I think is a brilliant tribute to Steve and also to Helen. But we couldn't quite fathom it all as we were making it, you know?"
Read more on Peaky Blinders:
- Peaky Blinders announces dance theatre production from creator Steven Knight
- Peaky Blinders creator reveals movie will continue story beyond World War II
Peaky Blinders is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Netflix. Read our guide to the best series on Netflix, check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
