Steven Knight’s “Peaky Blinders” might be a primarily fictionalized tale of an ambitious gangster family and their rise to power in post-war Britain, but it’s heavily inspired by a real-life street gang that went by the same name. These gangsters wore flat caps with razors sewn into them — a vision that also made it to the show. Knight’s fascination with the real-life gang seems natural when you discover the writer grew up hearing stories about the Peaky Blinders from his parents, and also witnessed some of them in action.
Filming for the spin-off film hasn’t begun yet, but Knight is nearly done writing the script, and he’s getting production started by setting up studios in Birmingham’s Digbeth district, where the gang used to roam during the turn of the century.
“I’m writing it right now. I mean, I’m nearly done writing it, and we’re going to shoot it… I’m setting up some film and television studios in Digbeth in Birmingham,” said Knight, adding:
“We’re going to shoot it at the studios in Digbeth, and on location in Digbeth in Birmingham. Digbeth and Small Heath is where the Peaky Blinders actually roamed … So it’s like Peaky’s coming home, basically.”
Knight further stated that filming would begin in the next year and a half, but he’s unsure about the timeline since it will “depend on the distributors and things.” He also teased the film’s cast members, sharing that some familiar and “new faces” would return, that are sure to be “quite surprising.”
It doesn’t seem like the “Peaky Blinders” film will make it to the cinemas before early 2024, but here’s hoping it brings us more of Cillian Murphy as the forever-intimidating Tommy Shelby.