When the first frames of Peaky Blinders (2025) flicker to life, the grimy industrial smoke of post-war Birmingham returns like an old ghost—familiar, oppressive, and magnetic. The 2025 continuation, billed as the concluding chapter in Tommy Shelby’s harrowing saga, doesn’t just aim to wrap up loose ends. It digs deeper into the fractured psyche of its protagonist, offering an operatic farewell laced with dread, redemption, and inevitable ruin.

Directed once again by Anthony Byrne, and written by the show’s creator Steven Knight, the film-length continuation doesn’t waste time reintroducing us to the world. It assumes, rightly, that we’ve been waiting. We’re thrust into 1936, just months before the world will once again descend into war. Fascism is rising, alliances are shifting, and Tommy Shelby is very much alive—despite the hallucinations and the gun pointed at his own head at the end of Season 6.

That shocking Season 6 finale, which revealed that Dr. Holford had lied about Tommy’s fatal illness, becomes the emotional springboard for this final chapter. After burning his gypsy wagon and walking away from his old life, we find Tommy isolated in Canada, living among a Romani community, trying to find peace. But peace, like power, never comes without a price in Peaky Blinders. A message from Arthur drags Tommy back to Britain, where family and politics collide more violently than ever.

A Final Reckoning

The 2025 continuation is a story of reckoning—not just for Tommy, but for the entire Shelby clan. Arthur, now a husk of his former self, battles opium addiction and the grief of losing his son. Ada, increasingly a political force in her own right, is approached by anti-fascist groups to counter Oswald Mosley’s growing influence. Lizzie, remarried and distant, returns only briefly, but her scene with Tommy—simmering with bitterness and unresolved grief—is one of the film’s most quietly devastating.

Tommy, meanwhile, finds himself pulled once more into the political underworld. Mosley (Sam Claflin, chilling as ever) is more dangerous than ever, with Nazi connections deepening. A new antagonist emerges in the form of Sir Hugo Lancaster, a shadowy aristocrat funding fascist movements in Britain. Lancaster is everything Tommy despises: entitled, untouchable, and willing to use ideology to mask his lust for power.

In one of the film’s most breathtaking sequences, Tommy confronts Lancaster at a lavish countryside estate—a scene dripping with tension and coded threats. It’s the kind of writing and performance that made Peaky Blinders a modern classic: Shakespearean in dialogue, cinematic in scope, intimate in emotion.

Ghosts and Guns

As always, Peaky Blinders isn’t just about guns and politics—it’s about trauma. The ghosts of Grace, Polly, John, and Ruby haunt Tommy relentlessly, their voices echoing in his mind. These apparitions are more than dramatic devices; they’re manifestations of a man who has lost everything and is still standing only because he doesn’t know what else to do.

Tom Hardy returns as Alfie Solomons in a gloriously unhinged cameo, bringing a dash of dark humor and unpredictability. Their reunion is less about strategy and more about two men who know their days are numbered but still enjoy the game. Hardy and Murphy remain electric together, their scenes crackling with absurdity and sorrow.

The visual style remains lush and brutal. Director of Photography Si Bell returns to frame Birmingham and London in stark blacks and fire-lit oranges, making every cobblestone feel like it’s soaked in blood. The soundtrack once again fuses modern rock with period drama, featuring new tracks from Nick Cave, Arctic Monkeys, and a haunting original by PJ Harvey written for Grace’s final appearance.

Cillian Murphy’s Crowning Performance

Cillian Murphy has always been the quiet storm at the heart of Peaky Blinders, but in this finale, he delivers a performance that’s nothing short of legendary. Gone is the sharp-suited, untouchable gangster of early seasons. In his place stands a man with blood on his hands and death in his eyes, still chasing redemption he doesn’t believe he deserves. The emotional breadth Murphy brings—ranging from numbed detachment to explosive fury—cements Tommy Shelby as one of television’s greatest anti-heroes.

In a brutal twist, Tommy’s final plan is not a coup or a murder, but an exposure. He leaks incriminating documents tying Lancaster, Mosley, and others to a Nazi plot to destabilize Britain. He doesn’t kill his enemies—he ruins them. But the act leaves him vulnerable, hunted, and alone.

The final 20 minutes are nearly wordless. Tommy, fleeing retaliation, disappears into the Scottish Highlands. There’s a surreal beauty to these last scenes—gray mountains, rushing rivers, and the distant sound of war drums. He builds a small shelter and burns the last remnants of the Shelby Company Limited.

And then, one final ghost visits him: Polly Gray, played through archival footage and a chilling voiceover by the late Helen McCrory. “You were never meant to live forever, Thomas. You were meant to finish the story.”

He smiles. He doesn’t die. But he doesn’t return, either.

A Perfect Ending?

Some viewers may find the lack of explosive violence or courtroom drama underwhelming. But the 2025 Peaky Blinders understands its own mythology. This isn’t a tale about who wins—it’s about who survives, and what’s left of them when they do.

The final chapter is poetic, somber, and incredibly satisfying. It gives each surviving character their own quiet ending—Arthur at a rehab clinic by the sea, Ada preparing to run for Parliament, Finn owning a modest boxing gym in Small Heath, trying to be better.

There’s no sequel bait, no stingers. Just silence, smoke, and the echo of Nick Cave’s voice: “I’m transforming, I’m vibrating… I’m glowing in the dark.”

Final Verdict: 9.5/10

Peaky Blinders (2025) is not a gangster film. It’s an elegy—for the dead, for the damned, and for a man who built an empire only to find it empty. A masterful ending to a legendary series, it burns slow but leaves an unforgettable scar.