While Peaky Blinders often focuses on Tommy Shelby, certain secondary characters undeniably breathe life into the series, occasionally even outshining Cillian Murphy himself. Alfie Solomons, portrayed by Tom Hardy, stands out as one such figure. His popularity among fans was so immense that Hardy successfully convinced creator Steven Knight to bring him back for the fifth and sixth seasons, despite his apparent demise at the conclusion of the fourth season.
Knight revealed that initially, the concept was to keep Alfie dead while still retaining his interactions with Tommy. In seasons 5 and 6, when Tommy and Alfie conversed, they were always alone. The underlying idea, as one might infer, was for the upcoming film, The Immortal Man, to disclose that Alfie had been deceased all along, appearing to Tommy merely as a product of his imagination, much like his late wife, Grace.
“I had an idea, which I haven’t really talked about. Ever since he was shot on the beach in Margate [in season four], you’ve only ever seen Tommy and Alfie together, alone. I thought maybe [Alfie] was appearing and then you’d realize he’d been dead the whole time. Now, I almost did it, and I didn’t, but it was a thought,” Knight explained.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is expected to be packed with numerous plot twists, so perhaps incorporating this particular revelation might have been too much for audiences to process. Regardless, it’s an intriguing concept that will undoubtedly fuel fan theories for years to come.