The ending of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man might not be what every fan of the franchise wanted or expected, but it certainly makes a lot of sense, given the ruthless killing at the heart of the titular gang’s operations. The Shelby family was always destined to be killed off, whether by their own ranks or an outside adversary.
This conclusion to the Tommy Shelby saga was predicted way back in November 2017 by all-time great Peaky Blinders villain Luca Changretta, during his first meeting with Tommy. “None of you will survive,” Changretta told the head of the Birmingham gang. He proved to be absolutely right, although not in the way that he thought.
Peaky Blinders Season 4 Predicted None Of The Shelbys Will Survive
Unfortunately, Adrien Brody’s dream role as Luca Changretta only lasted a single season of Peaky Blinders. Rather than fulfilling his vendetta against the Shelbys, he became one of their victims in the climactic scene of the spectacular season 4 finale.
While this episode remains one of the best in Peaky Blinders history, it’s an earlier episode in the same season that ultimately had more bearing on the show in the long run. After John Shelby is confirmed dead in season 4’s second episode, “Heathens”, Luca Changretta meets Tommy Shelby at his factory to declare a vendetta.
Changretta lines up a row of bullets on the table in front of him, naming each one after a member of the Shelby family. “Arthur Shelby, Polly Gray, Michael Gray, John Shelby,” he begins, before flicking John’s bullet towards Tommy. He then continues adding bullets to the line, naming them “Ada Thorne” and, last but not least, “Tommy Shelby”.
When the New York mobster then tells his adversary that none of the Shelby family will survive, he’s referring specifically to the vendetta he’s launching against them, which has already disposed of John. Changretta doesn’t get his way, but his prediction comes true nonetheless, albeit much later than he planned.
8 Years Later, The Immortal Man Confirms This Peaky Blinders Ending
Even before the franchise’s new movie The Immortal Man, Luca Changretta’s prophecy was beginning to look more and more likely. The original ending of Peaky Blinders was going to feature all the Shelby brothers together, but once John Shelby was killed off when actor Joe Cole decided to leave the show, the floodgates opened for more deaths in the family.
Polly Gray died prior to season 6, in a plot twist that was necessary because actor Helen McCrory had passed away. Then in the series finale, Tommy shot Polly’s son Michael dead. The show ended with just three of the original Shelbys left alive. It was anticipated that all of Tommy, Arthur, and Ada would appear in The Immortal Man.
In a surprise twist, however, Arthur doesn’t feature in the movie, having already been killed off by his brother, Tommy. Ada does play a role in The Immortal Man, but is murdered halfway through by its main villain, Nazi agent John Beckett.
At the end of the movie, Tommy Shelby succumbs to a bullet wound at long last, and is finally put out of his misery by his son and heir, Duke Shelby. It will be Duke that fronts the next Peaky Blinders series, which will be a spinoff set in the 1950s. But no Shelbys remain from the original gang’s leadership.
Season 4 Is Still The Pinnacle Of Peaky Blinders
While The Immortal Man and the final seasons of the Peaky Blinders TV show still pack an almighty punch, the franchise has never managed to top its fourth season. The war between the Shelbys and the Changrettas marks the pinnacle of the series, featuring stunning action sequences, and one of the greatest plot twists in recent memory.
Season 4 of Peaky Blinders ranks even higher than the first two story arcs of the franchise, which center on Tommy Shelby’s conflict with Major Campbell, and his complex relationship with Grace Burgess. What’s more, the season’s finale episode is probably the best in the entire series.
After the mixed bag of season 3, the show’s fourth season gets down to what Peaky Blinders does best. It’s dark, adrenaline-fueled gangster warfare, done in a spirit the franchise never quite manages to recapture with seasons 5 and 6, or with The Immortal Man.