'Peaky Blinders' Makes a Surprising Case for a Dark Horse James Bond

An aging badass is forced out of his self-imposed exile in an effort to save his family, and the world, one last time. If that sounds like the plot of 2021's James Bond film No Time to Die, you're not wrong. But, broadly, it's also the plot of the new hit Netflix movie and TV series sequel, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Set after the events of the popular TV series, The Immortal Man finds former mob boss Tommy heading back into the fray to prevent his son from doing something horrible and, also, fight some Nazis. Writer Steven Knight created Tommy and the Peaky Blinders universe, and his current gig is writing the next big-screen Bond movie.

What can Bond fans learn about the next Bond movie from Knight's most recent Peaky Blinders script? Perhaps nothing directly, but if Bond 26 has half the heart of The Immortal Man, it will be amazing. And the aesthetics of the film, combined with Cillian Murphy's performance, suggest that despite all the talk about a younger actor playing Bond, a one-off movie featuring a different, seasoned Bond in his 50s could totally work. Mild spoilers ahead for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.

There is more than one scene in The Immortal Man in which Murphy wields a gun with an expression mixed with angst and grit that screams James Bond. Perhaps not a slick, fun Bond like Pierce Brosnan in 1995, or Roger Moore in 1973, but a darker, sadder, yet more real Bond. Yes, that description makes people think of Daniel Craig's 007, but what Murphy brings to Tommy Shelby is a haunted quality. It's not just that he's cool, or sad, or grumpy; he's dealing with ghosts, both literal and figurative.

Now, this isn't to say that a younger actor (a man in his late 20s or early-to-mid 30s) couldn't pull this off. Age isn't really the main issue here; it's gravity. Both on the page, Bond is a paradox because we need the character to be a bit thin to relate to him and to embody his exploits, but his darkness or distance needs to have some kind of narrative reason, and therefore, pathos. The trick is conveying all of that without just telling the audience all about Bond's tricky cocktail of emotions.

This is what an actor like Cillian Murphy can do with a glance and grimace. As contemporary Bond novelist Kim Sherwood has pointed out, Knight is a perfect choice to write the new Bond film, and The Immortal Man is the ultimate proof: If you squint, it's a more concise, moving, and cool version of No Time to Die, Peaky Blinders-style.

Currently, Murphy seems to be a dark horse in the running for the next actor to play James Bond. The celebrated actor has apparently even taken himself out of the running, saying, "I'm kind of busy," when asked directly if he would play 007 in the Knight-penned upcoming film. But what if Murphy played Bond in a standalone one-off film? Not a reboot of the franchise in general, but perhaps a historical, book-accurate take on one of Fleming's original novels? We tend to think of Bond as a 1960s character, the literary origins are in the 1950s, which is part of why The Immortal Man's 1940 setting might give Bond fans some excited chills. Thinking about Murphy as a 1950s, Fleming-esque Bond, isn't just cool, it also could scan as a nice counterpoint to a contemporary Bond series. The analogy here would be something like Logan, a movie about Wolverine that wasn't part of the mainstream X-Men or Marvel films, but instead, told a different kind of story about a beloved action hero.

To be clear, there's no clear reason to believe a standalone, 1950s James Bond movie is actually happening. And, all signs point to the idea that Cillian Murphy, who is currently 49, would be slightly too old for what Amazon MGM has planned for the film franchise next. If anything, the current actors who are playing Bond right now—Paddy Gibson in the video game 007 First Light and Isaac Rouse in the upcoming Young Bond audio series—are all on the younger side; 30 and 23, respectively. But that doesn't mean there's not room for some more seasoned Bonds. Pierce Brosnan has been responding favorably to the idea of doing a Bond one-off in which 007 was in his 70s, which could also be very cool.

All in all, with Amazon MGM taking the Bond franchise into unknown territory, perhaps now is the time for 007 to be split into more than one man. We can look forward to a new James Bond actor who is maybe an unknown face, while maybe, just maybe, get a tried-and-true dude like Cillian Murphy to take a quick look back.

Is Peaky Blinders Now Over?

The main series of Peaky Blinders concluded with its sixth and final season in 2022. The new movie, The Immortal Man, serves as a coda to that show. However, on March 20, 2026, Netflix confirmed that another sequel series, set in the 1950s (again, classic Bond era!), is in development and set for release sometime after 2026.

Next James Bond Movie Release Date

The next James Bond movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve and with a script from Steven Knight, does not have a release date.