Fresh images from the set of The Immortal Man have set the Peaky Blinders fandom on edge. At the center of the frenzy is Barry Keoghan, whose stark 1940s gangster transformation has sparked speculation that a changing of the guard may be imminent.
Clad in a sleeveless vest, flat cap pulled low, Keoghan’s character cuts a striking silhouette — lean, intense, and visibly younger than the battle-worn king of Birmingham, Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby.
Fans aren’t just reacting to the costume. They’re reacting to what it might mean.
A Mirror to Tommy
Insiders close to production suggest Keoghan’s character isn’t a conventional villain but rather a reflection — a younger, hungrier echo of Tommy’s own ruthless rise. Thematically, that symmetry feels deliberate.
Tommy Shelby built his empire through calculated brutality and ambition in the 1920s. Now, set against the chaos of 1940 wartime Britain, he may be forced to confront someone molded from the same steel.
Director Tom Harper and creator Steven Knight have described the film as a “reckoning,” positioning it as the final chapter of Tommy’s personal arc rather than the end of the franchise itself.
If that’s true, Keoghan’s presence feels less like addition — and more like succession.
War Outside, War Within
Set during World War II, The Immortal Man places Tommy back in Birmingham amid the Blitz. External threats loom large, including political extremism and shifting criminal landscapes. But it’s the internal power struggle that has fans bracing for emotional fallout.
Returning cast members such as Stephen Graham and Sophie Rundle anchor continuity, while newcomers Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth expand the stakes.
But the visual of Keoghan leading a cohort of younger men — similarly dressed, similarly defiant — has intensified speculation that the film may culminate in a symbolic dethroning.
End of an Era?
Murphy has publicly hinted that this project may represent his final on-screen portrayal of Tommy Shelby. Meanwhile, Knight has confirmed that the franchise will continue into the 1950s with a follow-up series.
That timeline alone suggests transition.
Whether Tommy falls, fades, or hands over the reins remains unknown. What is clear is that The Immortal Man is positioned as an inflection point — the closing of one chapter before the atomic age reshapes the underworld.
Keoghan’s “terrifying” new look may not signal destruction alone. It may signal inheritance.
The crown isn’t gone.
But for the first time, it looks contested.