Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has confirmed that he has drawn back from the original plan to end the story at the start of World War Two.
The hit BBC crime drama is due to return for a sixth and final season, before ending with a film to wrap up the story.
While Knight had previously envisioned ending the story at the start of the Second World War, he has now revealed that he plans to go through the conflict instead in the film.
“It was always Britain between the wars – how the lesson from one war was not learned and was repeated,” he told Empire. “It’s also the end of empire: we enter the Second World War and by the end of it, there is no empire, really.
“But I… have revised the scope of what it is. It will now go into and beyond the Second World War. Because I just think the energy that is out there in the world for this, I want to keep it going, and I want to see how this can progress beyond that.”
He added: “I think of this sixth series as the end of the beginning.”
However, Knight confirmed that he hadn’t written it yet, teasing: “I don’t know what’s gonna happen until I get to writing.
“The way I tend to work is not to plan, and I think if I did plan, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Just sit at the keyboard and if you know the characters well enough, let ‘em loose and see what they say to each other. Let the dialogue guide the plot.”
The show boss revealed in October that the big screen outing would start production in 2023, with the filming ending the story completely.
Meanwhile, ahead of season six, star Cillian Murphy recently teased the tone of the final episodes, telling Rolling Stone UK: “I think it’s going to be very intense. The word we keep using is ‘gothic.’ Yeah, it’s going to be heavy!”
