Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man review — new Netflix movie manages to destroy the best British TV show of the 2010s in less than two hours

05 Mar 2026, 14:00 · TechRadar

TechRadar Verdict

I feel dreadful that Cillian Murphy had to return to this slog after his 2024 Oscar win for Oppenheimer. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is clearly an obligation ending, but it gets almost everything wrong.

Pros

+Finally, Netflix gets its movie lighting right
+A banging soundtrack
+Lots of tributes to Helen McCrory

Cons

-Tommy Shelby's story detracts from the original series
-Too many new characters we don't care about and an incredibly poor conclusion
-Possibly the most miserable film I've ever seen in my life
-The trailer shows all the best bits

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Cast your mind back to 2022, when BBC smash hit period drama Peaky Blinders was wrapping up its sixth and final season. Loveable local gangster Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) was tricked into believing that he was about to die from syphilis, making himself a recluse in the process.

However, this was all a lie, with Tommy tracking down the doctor responsible but failing to kill him. In this moment, Tommy learned the ultimate lesson of grace, and his legacy was forever changed (and more importantly, left on a high).

At least, this was the case until new Netflix movie Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. We've picked up with who's left of the gang in 1940, with Tommy's now grown-up eldest son Duke (Barry Keoghan) involved in a plot to foil the Second World War. In short, he's helping the Nazis distribute counterfeit money across the country, making him rich to the tune of £70 million in the process.

But never fear! It's Tommy to the rescue... well, at least after he's done dithering over whether it's the right thing to do. Duke's aunt Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) and Tommy's sister Ada (Sophie Rundle) are on hand to try and coax him back to Birmingham, and I bet they wish they hadn't bothered.

The biggest problem with The Immortal Man is how overwhelmingly depressing it is. The first half struggles to get itself going, with the second half abruptly ending in unnecessary tragedy.

If you're looking for jaunty fights, slick laughs and Tommy back on fighting form, you've come to the wrong place. Netflix has instead penned a funeral to the show we once loved, and simultaneously paved the way for an incredibly uninspiring sequel series.

I'm not joking when I say that I never want to watch Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man again

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

Watch On

It breaks my heart to be the bearer of such bad news after an agonizing four-year wait, but let's dig deeper into what's gone so wrong. More than anything else, it's the actual storyline that The Immortal Man has chosen to flesh out.

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