The Immortal Man justified its own existence for the Tommy Shelby star and executive producer by (in his opinion) matching and even improving on the cinematic and climactic ending to season 6, which saw the gangster ride off into distance.
But now – next week, to be specific – he's back, along with several other familiar faces from Steven Knight's hit BBC series and a few high profile newcomers.
Speaking to press including Radio Times at the BFI’s Celebrating Peaky Blinders event hosted by Edith Bowman on Friday night (26th February), Murphy opened up on getting it right for the film's resurrection of Tommy and the Peaky Blinders.
"I felt a real duty to the fans, to the fan base, who, I think, made the thing that it is.
"And then I really felt like, okay, if we started him in 1919, and we just come back from this first World War, how can it be as interesting, as intriguing, as as the rest of it was?" the Oscar-winner continued. "And ultimately it became clear that it was family.
"All plot and everything is amazing, and Steve is a wizard at that stuff, but what became clear was that family is the core of it. It always has been throughout this whole show and that when we leaned into that strongly, it was really, really powerful."
Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Netflix
Murphy went on to explain how Tommy's family ties are foregrounded further still in The Immortal Man; in particular, his Aunt Polly's (Helen McCrory) roots.
"In this film, this is the where we see him embracing the sort of gypsy magic more than we've ever seen in the past, which was very much the world of Aunt Polly. Whereas before he would've been brought up with that and understood it, as he's gotten older, that's what he really feels is actually – forget about progress and science and all that, this stuff is where the real source of life exists.
"I'm talking around it," he laughed, prompting chuckles from the crowd at the BFI as he deftly dodged spoilers. "But that becomes the sort of well – and there's an inevitability about that."
Destiny, faith and free will will become key to Tommy's storyline as we delve back into the world of the Peaky Blinders upon the cinema release of The Immortal Man.
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Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is released in cinemas 6th March. The movie will stream on Netflix from 20th March – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media. Peaky Blinders series is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Minnie Wright is the Digital Growth and Acquisitions Lead of Radio Times. She has a background in TV, Film, Showbiz and Music at a major national publication and a degree in Popular Music Journalism.
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
