The final season (sixth) of Peaky Blinders came out in 2022 after a long layoff due to issues stemming from the pandemic. Fans were waiting since Oct. of 2019 for the next series of events concerning the Shelby Family ... and now a movie may follow to provide closure.
- Thomas Carannante
FanSided Content Director
Why we needed this fandom this year
The Peaky Blinder fandom was essential for so many reasons in 2022, but none more than the fact viewers needed something to dive back into so they could escape reality for just a few hours. The characters, time period (1920s-1930s), and tense political/social storylines all play a role in this experience being different than most. The filming of the final season got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a gap from Oct. 4 2019 (end of season five) until Feb. 27, 2022 (beginning of season six) in between episodes. The anticipation couldn't wait any longer, especially with the previous season ending with the protagonist, Tommy Shelby, pointing a gun to his head in the final scene before everything cut to black. Fans desperately missed supporting the best kind of bad guys. Some might argue the love fans have/had for these divisive characters was something a television show hadn't seen since “The Sopranos” And think about how you'd feel if you had to wait two and a half years in between Sopranos seasons. “Bloody hell,“ Tommy Shelby would say. “Fongool,“ Tony Soprano would exclaim.
What emotion defined this fandom this year?
It sounds sad, but it was much needed -- the emotion that ended up defining this fandom in 2022 was one of grief. The matriarch of the series, Helen McCrory, who played Polly Shelby (Tommy's No. 1 trusted confidant), passed away after a long, quiet battle with cancer. (For all the Harry Potter fans out there, she played Narcissa Malfoy in the movies.) Her assertive presence on camera made fans want to live and die by her every move in the show all the way up until her untimely death. Sadly, she was killed off at the beginning of season six, and the manner in which that went down had all of us begging for vengeances. On a more metaphorical note, the world needed to grieve losses suffered in the pandemic, both physical and mental, in order to push forward and get beyond the difficult times. At the end of Peaky Blinders, we had to do the same with Tommy Shelby, whose persona as a larger-than-life gangster was killed off after he was tricked into believing he was fatally ill. The movie is coming next, and that will provide the necessary closure. Get in on the fandom now so you're ready by the time the film drops in late 2023 or early 2024.