For more than a decade, the story of Tommy Shelby has been defined by violence, ambition, and the heavy ghosts of his past. As the saga reaches its final chapter with The Immortal Man, actor Cillian Murphy has spoken openly about the emotional burden of carrying the character through one last devastating journey. According to Murphy, one of the most powerful forces shaping Tommy’s final arc is the lingering memory of Grace, the woman whose death permanently altered his life.
Grace Burgess Shelby, played by Annabelle Wallis, was once the emotional center of Tommy’s world. Introduced in the early chapters of the story, she was the rare person capable of softening the hardened leader of the Shelby crime empire. Their relationship represented a fragile hope that Tommy might one day escape the brutality of his past. That hope was shattered when Grace was killed, leaving Tommy emotionally scarred and increasingly isolated.
Even years after her character’s death in the narrative, Grace continues to haunt the story. Murphy has described how the memory of her loss becomes an invisible but powerful force shaping Tommy’s decisions in the final installment. Rather than portraying Tommy as a man who has simply moved on, the film reportedly explores how unresolved grief continues to influence his actions, especially as the stakes grow more dangerous in the story’s wartime setting.
To help access that emotional weight during filming, Murphy developed a deeply personal ritual while working on the movie. He revealed that he kept a small silver locket in his coat pocket during many scenes. The prop, connected to Grace’s wardrobe from earlier in the story, served as a physical reminder of the character who once represented Tommy’s hope for a different life. Whenever Tommy faced a difficult or morally brutal decision, Murphy would instinctively reach into his pocket and hold the cold metal in his hand.
This simple gesture helped anchor Murphy in Tommy’s emotional reality. Instead of treating Grace as a memory that existed only in dialogue or flashbacks, the actor wanted to feel the presence of that loss in every moment. For Murphy, the locket symbolized the unresolved grief that Tommy has carried for years — grief that quietly shapes the choices he makes as his world grows darker and more complicated.
Murphy has often spoken about how deeply he connects to Tommy Shelby as a character. Across multiple seasons and now a feature-length finale, he has portrayed the gang leader as a man constantly battling internal demons. War trauma, guilt, ambition, and family loyalty have all contributed to Tommy’s complex psychological landscape. Yet Murphy believes that Grace’s death remains the emotional wound that never fully healed.
In The Immortal Man, that lingering pain becomes especially significant. As the story pushes Tommy into increasingly dangerous political and criminal territory, the memory of Grace represents both his lost humanity and the fragile part of him that once believed in peace. Murphy suggests that this unresolved grief may ultimately push Tommy toward the breaking point.
The actor’s dedication to such emotional details reflects the careful approach that has defined his portrayal throughout the series. Rather than relying only on dialogue or dramatic scenes, Murphy often uses subtle physical choices — gestures, pauses, and quiet moments — to express the turmoil inside the character.
As the franchise approaches its climactic conclusion, the past continues to cast a long shadow over Tommy Shelby’s future. The enemies he faces may be powerful, but the most relentless presence in his life is not an external rival. It is the memory of the woman he lost and the life he might have lived.
In the end, Murphy’s performance suggests that no matter how far Tommy Shelby runs from his past, some ghosts refuse to fade. And in this final chapter, those ghosts may be the very forces that shape his ultimate fate.