*Edited on 03/21/2026

What you need to know

Before Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, the Shelby story unfolds through wars, betrayals, and losses that transform Tommy Shelby from a Birmingham gangster into a key player in political power games. This recap covers everything you need to remember before the movie.

Revisiting the Shelby family’s journey is not just an exercise in memory. It is about understanding how Thomas Shelby rose from the streets of Small Heath, in Birmingham, to become a businessman, a Member of Parliament, and a strategic figure in political conflicts involving fascism, the IRA, and even Winston Churchill.

Created by Steven Knight, the series was never only about stylish gangsters who once existed. It has always been about trauma, power, and the impossibility of escaping one’s own choices.

Season 1 lays the foundation. In 1919, Thomas, Arthur, and John Shelby return from the First World War deeply scarred, with Tommy battling an opium dependency. During their absence, Polly Gray kept the family business afloat. The accidental theft of a shipment of guns destined for the British Army draws Inspector Chester Campbell to Birmingham, tasked with recovering the arsenal and dismantling the Peaky Blinders.

At the same time, Tommy confronts Billy Kimber, who controls the racecourse betting circuits, and deliberately provokes a war with the Lee family, a Romani clan that shares the Shelby gypsy origins. The conflict ultimately turns into an alliance, sealed through John’s arranged marriage to Esme Lee. Grace Burgess, working undercover for Campbell, falls in love with Tommy. In the final confrontation, Tommy kills Kimber, and Grace shoots Campbell. Birmingham is no longer big enough for Shelby.

Season 2 marks the expansion into London. Tommy faces the Italian mob boss Darby Sabini and forms an uneasy alliance with the unpredictable Alfie Solomons. Polly is reunited with her son, Michael Gray, who enters the family business. Grace returns and reveals she is pregnant with Tommy’s child. The British state begins using Shelby as a covert instrument. When Campbell attempts to have him executed, Winston Churchill intervenes. Tommy is too useful to die.

Season 3 portrays a failed attempt at stability. Tommy marries Grace and moves into Arrow House. Entangled with Russian aristocrats and international conspirators, he also faces the Changretta family. A bullet meant for him strikes Grace instead. Her death transforms the protagonist irrevocably. Tommy descends into grief and brutality. By the end of the season, he temporarily sends his own family to prison as part of a secret deal to save them, shattering internal trust.

Season 4 brings the vendetta of Luca Changretta, who arrives from New York to avenge his father’s death. John Shelby is murdered. Arthur nearly dies. Polly pretends to betray Tommy to buy time. In the final confrontation, Arthur kills Luca. Tommy is elected to Parliament. The criminal now operates officially within the system.

Season 5 introduces Oswald Mosley and the rise of British fascism. Tommy moves closer to him to infiltrate and destroy the movement from within. Michael, now married to Gina, attempts to take control of the business. Polly prophesies that there will be a war within the family and that one of them will die. The plan to assassinate Mosley fails after an internal betrayal by Billy Grade. Tommy spirals into psychological collapse, haunted by visions of Grace.

Season 6 begins with Polly’s murder at the hands of the IRA. Michael blames Tommy and vows revenge. Lizzie and Tommy lose their daughter, Ruby. Duke emerges as Tommy’s previously unknown son, born of a relationship with a Romani woman named Zelda.

Michael plants a bomb in Tommy’s car, but when his cousin survives, Michael is ultimately killed by him, fulfilling Polly’s prophecy. Finn fails to prove his loyalty and is banished. Lizzie leaves Tommy. He destroys Arrow House and, believing he is terminally ill, plans to take his own life. He discovers the diagnosis was manipulated by allies of Mosley to remove him from the political game. He chooses to live and goes into exile.

It is at this point that The Immortal Man begins. Thomas Shelby is alive, but isolated. Without a wife. Without a daughter. Without his aunt. Without his brother John. Without his nephew Michael. The empire still stands, but the man who built it exists on its margins.

The film does not begin with a criminal on the rise. It begins with a broken strategist who has already confronted the State, the American Mafia, British fascists, and his own family. The question is not merely who his next enemy will be. It is whether he still believes in the legacy he created.