Warning: this article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Peaky Blinders is packed with larger-than-life characters that linger long after the credits roll. One such character was Arthur Shelby, who both captivated and infuriated audiences throughout the show’s six-season run. He was one of only three actors — alongside Cillian Murphy (Tommy Shelby) and Sophie Rundle (Ada Shelby) — to appear in every single episode.
Played by Paul Anderson, Arthur was the hot-headed older brother of Tommy Shelby. His experiences in the First World War left him with deep-rooted PTSD and mental health struggles, often sending him spiralling into addictive behaviours.
So it came as a surprise when he didn’t appear in the upcoming film, especially given that he survived the end of Peaky Blinders, albeit barely. Which begs the question: what actually happened to Arthur Shelby?
Is Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man?
Technically, no. The short answer is that Arthur Shelby — at least in his living form — doesn’t appear in the film. But his presence is still deeply felt, and fans are treated to a few glimpses of him in carefully placed flashbacks.
Early in the film, we learn that, in the time between the end of the series and the start of the movie, Arthur has passed away. This is revealed when Tommy visits his grave, which bears the inscription “In The Bleak Midwinter…” and lists his date of death as December 1938. This particular phrase was often used on the show to signify the acceptance of death.
It takes a little while for the film to reveal exactly how he died. Tommy is clearly shaken by his brother’s passing — the latest in a long line of family tragedies — and the early sections of the movie show him being haunted by Arthur’s memory.
A handy cheatsheet for pre-cinema revision.
How did Arthur Shelby die in Peaky Blinders?
At first, it’s implied that Arthur died by suicide or an accidental overdose — given everything we know about him from six seasons of Peaky Blinders, it’s not hard to imagine.
Later, Romani medium Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) convinces Tommy to confront the truth about his brother’s death. She tells him that Arthur’s spirit revealed he was not alone when he died — and Tommy admits that he was the other person present.
Tommy explains that the two had argued after he refused Arthur’s request for money. Arthur then stole a car and crashed it, prompting Tommy to confront him inside the vehicle. A struggle ensued, and in the chaos, Tommy’s gun went off, accidentally killing his brother.
Is this how Arthur Shelby died? Not quite, as there's even more to the story.
The full truth comes when Tommy visits Ada’s corpse after her assassination, finally confessing that Arthur’s death had been no accident. In a fit of rage, he admits he deliberately strangled his brother, desperate at the time to be free of the burden Arthur had become. “I killed [my] own brother, because I wanted to be free of him,” he admits.
We see the incident play out in a flashback, though Arthur’s face remains obscured, making Tommy’s haunting from the death more understandable.
Arthur does make one final — very brief — appearance in the climactic scenes. As Tommy climbs a narrow tunnel, he experiences a series of PTSD-style flashbacks from his time in the First World War and other traumatic moments. Among them is a fleeting image of his elder brother, sitting on rubble, a haunting reminder of the life Tommy lost.
What has actor Paul Anderson said about it?
Given that he likely expected to appear in the film — his character was alive and well when we last saw him — the death of Arthur Shelby probably came as a shock to Anderson.
Anderson addressed Arthur’s absence in an interview with LADbible earlier in March, telling the publication that he was at peace with the decision not to include his character.
"Well, what can you do, eh?" he said. “It is how it is. I thought I’d just leave them to it. I think it’s great.”
He admitted that he had been slightly “apprehensive” about the idea of making a film, explaining, “I thought we should’ve just done a couple more seasons, and I didn’t see a reason to do a film, to be honest.”
The movie is out on Netflix today.
However, Anderson added that he was happy with the way his character was written out of the story.
"I think it’s great," he explained. "I mean, it’s such a powerful thing to do. It’s something you don’t see on TV. Everyone thought, well, everyone knows Arthur’s gonna die. I was quite surprised, I [Arthur] was quite nasty sometimes, I weren’t very nice to people in it. But people loved me."
In 2024, Anderson pleaded guilty to possessing Class A crack cocaine, Class B amphetamines, and two Class C prescription substances, after being caught with the drugs in London on 26 December 2023. He was fined £1,345.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is available to stream on Netflix.
