Barry Keoghan’s ‘Peaky Blinders’ Recasting Ruins Franchise

April 5, 2026

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Cillian Murphy’s iconic character, Tommy Shelby, had his fate sealed in the recently released sequel film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. However, the doors aren’t closing on the franchise. A sequel spin-off is on the way, set 10 years after the movie’s events. The show will focus on Tommy’s son, Duke Shelby. Interestingly, the character won’t be played by Barry Keoghon, as in the movie. Jamie Bell is taking over.

“I am thrilled that we are announcing a new era of Peaky Blinders, moving the story to post-war Birmingham in the early 50s,” series creator Steven Knight said. “We are incredibly fortunate to have Jamie Bell taking the role of Tommy Shelby’s oldest son, Duke, and to have the incredible Charlie Heaton also leading the cast.” Bell is an excellent actor, having starred in movies like Rocketman, Without Remorse, Flags of Our Fathers, and Fantastic Four. However, the recasting makes The Immortal Man (a movie with several flaws) look even worse.

‘Barry Keoghan’s Recasting Confirms ‘The Immortal Man’ Was Needless

Netflix

Barry Keoghan is excellent in The Immortal Man, brilliantly conveying the naivety and boldness of the young Duke Shelby. It’s basically a WWII movie, with Duke, now in charge of the Blinders, stupidly agreeing to help the Nazis in their plot to economically subdue Britain by circulating £70 million in counterfeit currency. There’s plenty of fun in it, but the recent developments confirm that the film was nothing more than a cash grab and that Mr. Keoghan was simply cast to attract more viewers, given his star power.

It should be noted that this is the second time a recasting is happening. Conrad Khan originally played Duke Shelby on the show. Looking at his filmography over the last three years, one realizes that his schedule hasn’t been packed at all, so he could have been available to continue playing the character if the producers wanted him to. After all, it’s his biggest ever role.

Khan would have been okay for The Immortal Man, yet the producers chose not to move along with him. The producers must also have had the upcoming series in mind by the time they were making the movie, and they must have known that an A-list actor like Keoghan might not be able to commit himself to a TV show for the long run. So, why cast him?

They clearly wanted to give the film a blockbuster feel, but because of this move, the entire franchise now looks like a mess. Recasting one character twice isn’t a good look. Given Keoghan’s great performance, sections of fans must have been looking forward to seeing him continue in the role. Now they have to bear with another change. It’s discouraging, and there will likely be a number of loyalists who will give up on the franchise after this announcement.

Cillian Murphy Is Partly To Blame for the Mess

It has been argued that a Barry Keoghan casting was necessary because The Immortal Man presents a slightly older version of Duke. Season 6 ends in 1934, while the movie is set in 1940. However, there has been a four-year gap between the final season and the movie, so this shouldn’t have been much of a problem. If keeping Conrad Khan was hard, then Steven Knight and his team should have cast someone who could play Duke in both the sequel film and the sequel series.

But Knight isn’t the only one to blame here. In fact, he is hardly to blame. On the March 9 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Cillian Murphy, who doubles as a producer on the show, told the host that Keoghan’s casting all started with a Father’s Day text.

“It was Father’s Day. We’ve known each other since Dunkirk, he was only a kid then. He had texted me on Father’s Day. Nobody had let me know it was Father’s Day.”

In the interview, Murphy says that he was so impressed that he asked Keoghan if he was interested in playing Tommy Shelby’s son in the upcoming movie. The younger actor immediately said yes, as he had been a fan of the show for a long time.

Murphy was probably not only touched by Barry Keoghan’s kindness but also by the method of communication. After all, a text is what led him to get the role of Tommy Shelby. In the early 2010s, he had chosen not to adhere to the “Don’t call us… We’ll call you!” rule after meeting Knight. After learning that the series creator was eyeing Jason Statham for the role, Murphy sent him a message to convince him, and he got the part.

Perhaps neither Murphy nor Keoghan knew that Duke would still be needed after the movie. Now the water has already been spilled. Soon, Keoghan’s participation will feel distant and irrelevant… a shame, considering how great an actor he is.