A meeting of the gangsters was teased in Season 4. Fans would love this.
With Sam Claflin joining the cast of Peaky Blinders in Season 5, Tommy Shelby is set to lock horns with another famous figure from history, Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists.
Of course, this isn’t a new scenario for the leader of the Peaky Blinders because he has previously conversed with figures like Winston Churchill, Jessie Eden, Darby Sabini and many more.
Right from the very beginning, Steven Knight has always placed a great deal of importance in grounding the show in some semblance of reality and historical accuracy, but one potential meeting that was teased in Season 4 has got fans extremely excited.
Cast your mind back to the Season 4 finale as Luca Changretta’s plans to exact revenge on the Peaky Blinders came to an end.
Not only did Tommy get the upper hand in terms of muscle, but he also undercut Luca’s business.
In terms of his business interests, Tommy informed us all that he has already been in contact with the most notorious gangster in Chicago, Al Capone.
The leader of the Shelby Company saw an opportunity to make some money by taking advantage of the US’ strict Prohibition Act – laws which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of greater than 1.28% – and he acted quickly.
Polly’s son, Michael Gray, has also been sent across the Atlantic in a bid to strengthen the Shelby Company’s financial interests but could we be seeing a meeting between the most infamous gangsters in Chicago and Birmingham?
Ahead of the Season 5 premiere, JOE had the chance to chat with Steven Knight and we had to ask him if he was tempted to introduce Al Capone and bring the story of the Shelby family to the US?
“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. In Series 6 we will go west, but it will be in a different way,” said Knight.
Interesting.
Having excelled in an earlier performance as Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire, there are an awful lot of Peaky Blinders fans that really want to see Stephen Graham reprise the role.
In a previous interview on BBC Sounds’ Obsessed with… Peaky Blinders podcast, Knight said that Graham is someone that he would like to appear in the crime drama – but revealed that he wouldn’t be asking him to play Al Capone.
“Don’t worry… we’re proceeding with [hiring Graham], but not for this series,” said Knight. “Not Al Capone – I didn’t want to go west. Because it’s a minefield once you go into Chicago gangsters. I refer to him in the last series, but I didn’t want to go into that.”
Peaky Blinders returns at 9pm on 25 August. Don’t miss it.
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