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Peaky Blinders season 6 finale ending explained – how it sets up the movie

SPOILER ALERT!

By Tilly Pearce

15 Nov 2022

Peaky Blinders spoilers follow.

Tommy Shelby's fate has been decided and the end of Peaky Blinders as we know it has come to pass – and as expected, it came with more than a few twists.

With the threat of tuberculoma giving Tommy a death sentence, Michael (Finn Cole) vowing to kill him for vengeance over Polly's death, and both his business and family crumbling around him, there were more than a few loose strings to tie up by the show's end.

Here's what happened to the central characters, and what that means for the upcoming movie.

Tommy Shelby

cillian murphy, peaky blinders, season 6

BBC

Tommy spends the vast majority of the final episode preparing for death – but the cat with nine lives has managed to live to fight yet another day. The movie now surely promises the return of Cillian Murphy and his flat cap for another outing.

Believing he had tuberculoma, a build-up of lumps on the base of the brain, Tommy set about putting his final preparations in place and tying up his loose ends. He even blew up his family mansion to make way for new homes for the working class of Birmingham.

He then retired, saying goodbye to his family and handing over the business to Ada (who, let's face it, was better equipped to run it anyway). After one last dinner, he resigns himself to a life of solitude with the intent to die alone with his horses in a gypsy caravan.

But a message from his dead daughter Ruby then provided some clarity to gave him literally a new lease of life.

Ruby's message urged Tommy to head towards his campfire ("Light the fire again and get warm, and you will see that you must live"), and fragments of a newspaper article about the marriage on that fire showed Tommy the truth – that Dr Holford, who gave him the deadly diagnosis, was all part of an elaborate scam.

Despite living with the burden of tuberculoma over the past three episodes, it turned out to be nothing but a malicious ruse executed by Oswald Mosley and his band of fascists. Mosley had recruited Dr Holford to help out, and he was so tightly connected to the fascist cause he was even present at Mosley's wedding to Diana Mitford, where Adolf Hitler was best man.

Holford, who is revealed to be an out-and-out racist who had nothing but contempt for gypsies like the Shelbys, rationalises his actions when Tommy confronts him, branding Tommy a "sick man". This is the 'man with green eyes' and the 'grey man' that has been foreshadowed throughout season six's run.

Although he holds a gun to Holford's head, Tommy ultimately decides to spare his life, revived by the knowledge that he isn't going to die.

Returning back to the caravan he now lives in, he sees someone has set it on fire. Rather than fight it, he considers this a clean slate, heads off on his horse ready to make a new life for himself.

One plot thread that will probably never be directly resolved, even in a movie, is Tommy’s failure to assassinate Oswald Mosley - which was thwarted by the IRA in season 5, and was still unaccomplished by the end of season six. That’s probably because Blinders’ Mosley is based on a real person. The founder of the British Union of Fascists, the real-life Mosley survived until 1980 when he died of Parkinson's.

However, if the movie takes place during World War II, which is the proposed timeline, Tommy would still be able to get his revenge against the fascists he despises - even if he can’t directly take down Mosley himself.

Duke Shelby

BBC

Duke Shelby has been fully brought into the family fold within a matter of weeks, admitting he had killed a man before he even became a member of the Blinders. The man was an orderly who refused to help his dying mum at a hospital because she was a gypsy. It turns out he was only upset about witnessing the horrific garrotte moment earlier in the series because he found it "unfair", not because blood made him ill.

And as it happens, he's a damn good shot too, and Billy Grade met his maker at Duke's hand with the help of Isiah. Under command from Tommy, Isiah and Duke got to work clearing out Tommy's house, with the youngest Shelby brother Finn arriving with Billy to party in celebration.

Only they were then ambushed, with Billy getting shot in the head and Finn being pushed out of the family for good as a result of bringing a traitor into the ranks. It turns out there was a reason Finn was barely seen at all this season – he wasn't trusted. Finn vows vengeance after Duke announces, by order of the Peaky Blinders, that he is no longer a Shelby.

Arthur Shelby

BBC

A newly-clean Arthur came back from the brink we've seen him at all season, and was in charge of the IRA leg of the operation, waiting patiently at the Garrison pub for Captain Swing and her cohorts to come and get him.

But a Shelby always has a plan, and it didn't take long for things to get complicated with a massive shootout ensuing. Arthur was alongside Jeremiah and his crew, with Swing and her associates quickly outnumbered – even with a sniper helping them in the rafters.

After eventually throwing mustard gas into the mix, the Peaky Blinders emerge victorious, with Arthur giving Swing enough recovery to breathe before shooting her in the heart in vengeance for what she did to Aunt Polly.

Arthur is the only person in the family Tommy tells about his diagnosis and is too distraught to be at the final goodbye dinner to his brother.

But now that he's alive, a reunion could be on the cards – just in time for the movie. Let's hope he finally gets the justice he deserves for a character that has become such a fan favourite.

Michael Gray

BBC

For someone who has been monologuing to the camera about how much he wanted to kill Tommy Shelby all season, Michael did a pretty poor job of actually doing it.

Almost as soon as he's let out of jail, Michael was thrown off track by a reunion with wife Gina, who tells him of plans to kill not just Tommy, but also Arthur, young Charlie and newcomer Duke. The idea throws Michael, who has at least stood by the 'no kids, no women' murder policy. Hey, everyone has to have their standards, right?

Arranging to meet Tommy in Canada, Michael formulates a plan to plant a bomb in his car – only he doesn't count on Johnny Dogs being there to move it into his own while Michael distracts Tommy.

When the bomb goes off, Michael is irked to discover that his job wasn't completed after all, and someone like Tommy doesn't die quite that easily.

After one final speech-off, Tommy shoots him in the eye, ending Polly's prophecy that there'll be a war, and one of them will die.

Alfie Solomons

BBC

Out of everyone, it seems Alfie Solomons has done pretty well for himself in the final episode, setting up a new life in Boston as the premier bootlegger of the area thanks to Tommy killing off his competition.

After all, most of the gangsters in England think he's dead, what else is he going to do?!

In response, he signs over his work in Camden Town to the Blinders, and the frenemies long-standing business partnership is done.

Lizzie

BBC

Lizzie officially reached the end of her tether after discovering Tommy had slept with Diana Mitford and decided to leave him. Still distraught over the death of her daughter Ruby, she's surprised when Tommy's son Charlie asks to join her instead of staying with him.

"You may not be my mum, but you're more my mum than he's my dad," the 12-year-old says, and Tommy relents, believing he's dying anyway and his child will be taken care of.

It's not known what happened to her, or how she'll discover the truth about Tommy.

Peaky Blinders series 6 is available now on BBC iPlayer, and will be available on Netflix from June 10.