Netflix confirms Cillian Murphy will return as Tommy Shelby in 'Peaky Blinders' movie

New Delhi: Oscar winner Cillian Murphy will reprise his role as Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby in a "Peaky Blinders" movie, streaming platform Netflix has confirmed.

Set to arrive on the streamer, the new film is made in association with BBC. It will be directed by Tom Harper and written by Steven Knight.

Murphy, who earlier this year won his first best actor Oscar for "Oppenheimer", dedicated the upcoming movie to admirers of the series "It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me. It is very gratifying to be recollaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for the fans," the actor said in a statement.

The series, about the titular Peaky Blinders crime gang in the aftermath of the First World War, had ended with its sixth season run in April 2022 creator Knight had maintained he would like to continue the story "in another form".

Harper, who helmed episodes of the show's first season in 2013, said he is thrilled that a "Peaky Blinders" movie is about to happen.

"It will be an explosive chapter in the Peaky Blinders story. No holds barred. Full on Peaky Blinders at war," he added.

The film, which goes into production later this year, will be an epic continuation of the multi-award-winning gangster saga.

Set in Birmingham between 1919 and 1934, "Peaky Blinders" followed the rise (and sometimes fall) of the Shelby family as they navigated a world wracked with radical social, economic, and political change.

"When I first directed 'Peaky Blinders' over 10 years ago, we didn't know what the series would become, but we did know that there was something in the alchemy of the cast and the writing that felt explosive. Peaky has always been a story about family — and so it's incredibly exciting to be reuniting with Steve and Cillian to bring the movie to audiences across the world on Netflix," Harper said.

The show, which started on BBC Two in 2013, moved to BBC One, and eventually became a worldwide phenomenon after it became available on Netflix.