Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has confirmed that a film sequel will commence production in September, hyping an increased budget and star Cillian Murphy's full involvement.
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Talk of a feature follow-up has persisted since season 6 concluded on BBC One and iPlayer two years ago, but it sounds as if the project is about to start moving at serious pace.
Fears that Murphy could become too big a Hollywood star to return – following his Academy Award win for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer – appear also to have been unfounded.
Speaking to NME, creator Knight said of the Peaky film: "It’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen this September.
"I’m just doing the final polishes [on the script], which will continue up until the day before we start shooting. But we’re there. We’ve got everything sorted, we’ve got all the commitments we need, we are ready to go."
It's unclear at this stage whether the film will land in cinemas or be snapped up by a streaming service, but whichever ends up being the case, fans can expect a "bigger" budget for the next chapter in Tommy Shelby's story.
Knight continued: "I think the film is gonna be a step up again, and it’s gonna be great that Peaky fans can meet in one place and watch it. The budget will be bigger, but also because we know we’re ending this chapter, we’re all going to try to do our best.
"Cillian [Murphy] is really up for it. So I can’t wait for it to start shooting."
Steven Knight. David M Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Reacting to the recent Oscar win by his star, who played theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer in last year's blockbuster three-hour biopic, Knight added: "Isn’t it amazing? I’m so pleased for him because he deserves it.
"After every award that he won, he would text and say, 'I really can’t wait to be doing Peaky,' confirming that none of this was going to change what we’re going to do next."
Knight is currently promoting BBC drama This Town, following the story of four young people navigating a volatile music scene in Birmingham in the late 1970s.
Peaky Blinders is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
