Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has revealed he nearly brought back Tom Hardy’s character, Alfie Solomons, as a ghost for film spin-off The Immortal Man.
The movie continuation of the hit TV series saw Cillian Murphy return as former gangster Tommy Shelby, brought out of isolation to save his son (Barry Keoghan). Only a handful of series regulars returned for the Netflix movie, but Knight revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he thought of an interesting twist involving the Solomons that ultimately wasn’t used.
Hardy’s character Alfie, a gang leader from London, first appeared in season two, and became a rival of Shelby’s although the two retained respect for each other, occasionally working as allies. In season four, Tommy shoots Alfie in the head at the latter’s request, as he had a terminal illness. It’s revealed in season five, however, that Alfie survived the gunshot and was living in seclusion.
Knight revealed that, because only Tommy and Alfie interacted after the shooting, that perhaps a twist could be worked in that Alfie was in fact a ghost, given that Tommy has seen visions of other dead people from his life in the past.
“I had an idea, which I haven’t really spoken about” he said. “Ever since he was shot on the beach at Margate [in season four], you’ve only ever seen Tommy and Alfie together alone. I thought, Maybe [Alfie] appears, and we realise he’s been dead all that time. Now, I nearly did that, and I didn’t do it, but that was a thought.”
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is on Netflix now following a short cinema release. Recently, Knight spoke about why series favourite Paul Anderson, who played Arthur in the show, didn’t appear in the movie.
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