OFFICIAL: Season 6 of Peaky Blinders is now in pre-production

The Shelbys are back for Peaky Blinders Season 6.

You can't say that director Anthony Byrne isn't a man of his word. During a previous interview with GQ, the Dubliner gave a clear answer when asked about the shooting schedule for Season 6 of Peaky Blinders. "I'm reading the scripts at the moment, which Steven is writing. I start properly on series six in early November. Then we start shooting early next year, that's the plan," he said. Well, the time is now and we've got some great news for fans of Steven Knight's beloved gangster drama. Oh yes, Season 6 of the beloved gangster drama is now in pre-production! Just like Tommy Shelby, we don't need a reason to crack open a bottle of whiskey and celebrate, but it's good to have one anyway. On this note, Byrne is returning to direct the new episodes - he's the first director to return behind the lens and direct two different seasons of the show - and he shared a glimpse at the script for the very first episode of Peaky Blinders Season 6 via his official Instagram account. The first episode is called Black Day and it could be an ominous sign for Tommy, given the cliffhanger that Season 5 ended on. When it comes to the plot of Season 6, very little is known about the upcoming season, although prior to Season 5 being released, Steven Knight told JOE that the Shelbys will continue to have dealings in the US. When asked about the potential involvement of Al Capone and the Chicago mob, Knight said: "I’ve always not wanted to do that because I think it’s a bit of a minefield because it has been done a lot. The Americans do it well, they do their own mythology. This is our story though. Peaky is about Britain and Ireland. I never really wanted to go there (US). In Season 6 we will go west, but it will be in a different way." In another interview with The Guardian, Knight also confirmed that the character of Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) will be returning and that the producers are currently looking to cast an actor for the role of Diana Mitford, Mosley's second wife. The continued presence of Mosley as a recurring antagonist in the show was always likely given his importance to British history. In terms of real life events, Mosley served in WWI before returning home where he became one of the youngest serving Conservative MPs of the time. He then switched allegiances and joined the Labour Party. After resigning from Labour, he went on to found the New Party. The New Party became the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932. Mosley was heavily influenced by Benito Mussolini and the wave of fascism that was spreading across Europe and he advocated anti-semitism, large rallies, and marches that were policed by his own Fascist Defence Force (nicknamed blackshirts). After the Battle of France in May 1940, the UK government considered him too dangerous and he was interned shortly after Churchill became prime minister. The BUF was proscribed by the British Government later that year. All in all, Tommy Shelby is definitely not done with Oswald Mosley and when Cillian Murphy talked with JOE, he was coy about what the future has in store for his character. However, he did confirm that it's still Knight's intention to end the show when the first sirens for WW2 are heard. "He always said that he sees the first sirens of the Second World War as the end of the show, he’d love to do that. We’re just so lucky to have such a gifted writer at this kind of purple patch in his career. He’s writing such beautiful and unpredictable characters and journeys and stories for us. I’m just like ‘let him off!’ Sometimes, we’ll meet and have lunch and he’ll tell me his ideas for the future and they’re always amazing. Nothing that I could have ever predicted," said the Irish actor. Jamie Glazebrook, executive producer on Peaky Blinders, also told JOE that the scale of the show will only get bigger in Peaky Blinders Season 6. However, he insisted that the real draw of the next season is the journey of the characters. "I think that the scale of things continues to rise, which is incredible, but the real power of the new season is by going deeper into the characters. I felt that the issues that Tommy faces in Season 5 are less about someone that’s actually trying to kill him, but more about the uncertainty of working with Mosley. The challenge that Steve rises to every time is how can you be more interesting and compelling. I don’t know how he does it!," said Glazebrook. To top things off, there's a very interesting theory that Tommy will cross paths with Adolf Hitler in the near future. Whatever the future has in store for the Shelby family in Peaky Blinders Season 6, we can't wait.