Peaky Blinders season 6 plots set up by season 5 – digitalspy.com, Digitalspy.com

Note: Contains spoilers forPeaky Blinders‘season 5 finale.

Peaky Blinders‘season-fivefinale saw the boldest cliffhanger in the show’s history, with Tommy Shelby seemingly losing his mind and poised to kill himself after being betrayed during his assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley.

But is Tommy really going to take his own life? Who double-crossed him at Oswald Mosley’s big rally? And how does this finale set up what’s to come in season six? Well, we’ve swirled our tea leaves just like Aunty Polly and here’s what we think it all means.

Is Tommy going to kill himself?

The short answer is no. We’ve gone into a lot more depth to explain thePeaky Blindersseason-five ending here, but essentiallyCillian Murphy has already been confirmed to returnby creator Steven Knight and he’s the show’s leading man, so would they really kill him off with another two seasons to go?

What’s far more likely is thatseason sixand beyond will see Tommy Shelby significantly damaged by his mental trauma, perhaps undergoing treatment or maybe left with a permanently reduced mental capacity. However, the show always employs time jumps, so it’s likely the next outing could speed through elements of this until Tommy has recovered.

Who double-crossed Tommy Shelby?

Tommy’s plan to assassinate Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin ) goes all kinds of bad, as Aberama Gold (Aiden Gillen) is stabbed – to death, we assume – and Barney is shot before he can snipe Oswald.

We say “to death” as even though Arthur says Aberama is dead, Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) managed to survive a bullet to the face , so perhaps we can hold out hope Aberama can shrug off 23 stab wounds. Though it seems unlikely.

We won’t know who double-crossed Tommy for sure until next season, although Tommy screams about the Chinese, Jimmy McCavern and Special Branch during his breakdown, we reckon these are the most prominent suspects:

Oswald Mosley

He has quite an obvious stake in not getting assassinated and thus having his fascist party stopped. Colonel Ben Younger was killed for having incriminating evidence on Oswald and given Oswald’s terrifying level of intel about the Shelbys, it’s conceivable that he pre-empted Tommy’s plan with his own attack.

Michael and Gina Gray

Michael makes a failed attempt at taking over the Shelby business at the start of the season-five finale, which culminates with him offering Tommy a knife to cut him, before Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy) says: “Guess we’re going to be forced to take the second option.”

Michael is being set up as an obvious adversary for the next season, but would he really resort to attacking the family – and killing his new father

Billy Grade

BBC

The poor singer and ex-footballer was coerced into the Peakys’ illegal activities. At first he’s begrudgingly involved, but later begins to love the lifestyle and money. But when Arthur mentions Billy’s wife who’s left him – presumably because of his crimes – the singer looks angry.

Later, Finn lets slip about the shooting of Oswald Mosley and the last time we see Billy he’s picking up the phone – could he be calling some Irish connections? Perhaps the same gang that kidnapped Michael at the start of the season?

Alfie Solomons

Fan-favorite Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) made a miraculous return after surviving a gunshot to the face, so it’s very likely he’ll return in season six – why else would they revive him?

Alfie has actually betrayed Tommy in every season he’s appeared in, firstly by conspiring with Sabini, then lying about the Fabergé egg purchasers and finally trying to have Arthur killed by Luca Changretta’s men.

The pair strike an uneasy peace during their short meeting in Margate, but it seems unlikely that Alfie will break type, and if he hasn’t double-crossed Tommy now, he’ll surely do it again in the future.

Polly Gray

It’s unlikely Polly would have her new lover assassinated, but she does resign from the company just before the rally. Pol is obviously going to side with her son Michael, who now opposes Tommy, considering she fought so hard to get him back in her life.

Just ahead of the rally, she says one of Michael or Tommy will be killed, while Tommy says he’ll kill her if he has to . It’s unlikely, but maybe she thought she’d get in there first?

Johnny Dogs

Johnny Dogs is one of the few gang members who knew about the plan and miraculously turns up just after the shooting. But why would Johnny squander his chance to pocket £ 30 K for the job and why would he turn on Tommy now?

In the second episode, Tommy tells Johnny: “In all the world, of all the people You alone I know I can trust. “

Peaky Blindersalways calls back to earlier dialogue, and the most satisfying person to betray Tommy would be someone we already know. Nevertheless, this would be a massive heel turn from someone who is basically a comedy character.

Michael vs Tommy

Peaky Blindersseason sixseems set to pitch Michael Gray as Tommy’s full-blown enemy after his failed attempt to takeover the company.

We know one of them is likely to die, as Polly says: “There will be a war and one of you will die, but which one, I cannot tell “- and we know she hassecond sight.

Meanwhile Michael warns Tommy: “By the time my child is born, we’ll be done with each other.” And Gina says when Michael takes over Tommy will be “where he wants to go to most”. Could she mean dead alongside his beloved wife, Grace?

Tommy has been distrusting of Michael since the start of season five when he lost all the Shelby money on Wall Street. Remember Michael was the first to meet the Billy Boys and Irish gang on the boat, so could he have secretly have conspired with them?

Speaking about a potential Tommy vs Michael storyline,Finn Cole toldDigital Spy: “I think that he has the skills and talents and there are definitely things that we’ve hidden and subdued about Michael’s character points that could be exploited and that storyline could be done. “

Then again, maybe Oswald is behind this too. There were some interesting glances between Oswald and Gina at the ballet and she knew who he was immediately when he arrived, despite being new to the country. Some fan theories have suggested she’s Oswald’s spy – and that’s how he knew about Michael’s favorite clubs in Detroit.

Arthur is tempted with the idea of ​​getting out of crime, especially since losing Linda. Meanwhile Finn Shelby is invited to America, and we know Finn is naive and desperate to prove himself in the same way his brothers have.

Finally, Polly Gray resigns and will obviously side with her son and his pregnant wife – plus her new fiancé Aberama was killed as part of Tommy’s plan. Plus Tommy even says he’s willing to kill her if he has to.

So it seems season six will see the Shelby family split with civil war looming. Polly, Gina, Michael and maybe Finn would presumably be on one side, and Arthur, Tommy and Lizzie on the other.

But where would that leave Ada Thorne? Her boyfriend and father of her new child, Colonel Ben Younger, died for working with Tommy. Then again, she’s been Tommy’s closest confidante this season, she’ll maybe be playing peacemaker once again.

Gina Gray’s family will be introduced

Michael is running the drug trade for the Peaky Blinders, but during his company takeover attempt he warned the Americans don’t want to work with a backstreet razor gang and we know Gina’s family will be key players in the

Director Anthony Byrne toldGQ: “She’s from an influential family on the east coast of America. She’s followed Michael on a whim, but very quickly starts to exert her own control on him. There’s a lot to be revealed about her next series. She’s a player, she’s a manipulator. She’s part of a wider plan. “

Steven Knight has also hinted that the show will“go west “in season six, but in a” different way “. We know that Al Capone won’t be appearing, but there’s the potentially ofJulia Robertsjoining the cast, along withStephen Grahamand Vicky McClure . So perhaps they could fill key roles as Gina’s family?

Oswald Mosley will return

Spoilers from real-life history ahead.

Oswald Mosley marries his second wife, Diana Guinness, in 1936. They marry at the home of Joseph Goebbels andHitler is their guest of honor, as she’s friends with him.

Oswald Mosley officially established the British Union of Fascists on October 1, 1932 and the group was banned by 1940

So it seems likely there’s more to see from Mosley, and given Winston Churchill’s appearance in the show, maybe Hitler could be written in, too.

And Linda Shelby might be back too

Linda survives her gunshot and flees, but Arthur is obviously tormented by the absence of his wife. They still have a son together, Billy, and Linda has always been a fan of the Peaky Blinders’ luxuries, so surely it won’t be long before she’s back – perhaps allied with Michael, so she can manipulate Arthur to gain money and revenge .

Speaking exclusively toDigital Spy,Kate Phillips, who played Linda, said: “Who knows? I can only hope so. I definitely felt like there’s a lot of unfinished business there. They share a child together, there’s definitely no chance Arthur would let Linda get away with Billy, so they’re tied together, with the family connection, and obviously family is a big connection inPeaky Blinders.

“I’d like to think she’s going to be around and maybe there might be some reconciliation to have, but also you know her fury is pretty palpable by the end of episode five. But also like it does beg the question – how do you come back from trying to kill your husband? “

Tommy Shelby will be a good man … in the end

Throughout season five, Ada Thorne and Lizzie Shelby question why Tommy is trying to take down the British Union of Fascists – we know he’s getting some favourable terms on Defense contracts, but following his conversation with Winston Churchill in the finale, it seems he’s trying to stop the precursors to another war.

Winston tells Tommy: “When I hear that man Mosley speak, I see the green shoots of another war growing up around his feet, and you see exactly the same thing I do. That’s why you oppose him. “

The show’s creator Steven Knight has always been keen on charting the causation of war and the stark far-right rhetoric used inPeaky Blindersseason five has clear parallels to the rise of the modern day’s new far right.

Steven Knight told(Digital Spy): “My intention always has been to redeem [Tommy] so that at the end he’s genuinely a good man doing good things.”

Despite all of Tommy’s crimes and disillusionment with the establishment, it stands to reason that of all people, he would want to avoid another war.

Both he and Arthur have experienced the horrors first hand, while Tommy tells Lizzie they “don’t have the f ** king words” to describe everything that happened to them.

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The Second World War is inevitably going to play a part in the overall story ofPeaky Blinders –Steven Knight has always wanted to tell the tale of a family between the two Great Wars, plus the show likely has aseason sevenand apotential movieto come, as well.

But whether Tommy Shelby has the mental stability to fight it, either politically or physically, is the biggest question that we’ll have to wait a few years to answer.

Peaky Blindersseason five is on iPlayer now, and comes to Netflix on 4 October.

Obsessed With… Peaky Blinders–hosted by Digital Spy’s Editor, Laurence Mozafari – is out now and available to listen to on BBC Sounds.