Game Of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen Joins ‘Peaky Blinders’
It looks like Littlefinger will be trading scheming in Westeros for the glamour of 1920’s Birmingham, as Aidan Gillen lands a part in Series 4 of Peaky Blinders! This comes hot on the heels of the news last week that Adrien Brody had also taken a role in the next season of the show.
Filming has just started in Liverpool (which apparently looks more like 1920’s Birmingham than Birmingham does these days), and sees Cillian Murphy (Inception, Free Fire), Helen McCrory (Skyfall), Paul Anderson (The Revenant), Joe Cole (Green Room), Sophie Rundle (Jamestown), Finn Cole (Animal Kingdom), Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Detectorists) and Kate Phillips (The Crown) all returning as the Murphy clan.
Also announced as returning is Charlotte Riley (King Charles III, Close To The Enemy) who plays champion horse trainer and Shelby’s former lover, May Carleton. The character was last seen in season 2, but missed season 3, I suspect partly due to Charlotte being pregnant at the time of shooting. That didn’t stop her real-life husband Tom Hardy (Taboo, The Revenant) making an appearance though, and he is back this series too, as Jewish gang leader Alfie Solomons. Series regulars Natasha O’Keefe (Sherlock: The Abominable Bride) and Packy Lee (The Frankenstein Chronicles) also return.
“We have a dream team gathered for series four of Peaky Blinders, coming to us for love of the series which is great,” commented creator, Steven Knight. “Adrien Brody, Aidan Gillen and Cillian Murphy give us a wealth of talent to work with, and with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley returning we couldn’t have hoped for more.”
Plot details are scarce for the new season, but we do know that it kicks off with Tommy receiving a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve, that makes him realise that the Peaky Blinders are in danger of annihilation. As the enemy closes in, Tommy flees his country house and returns to the streets of Small Heath, Birmingham, where a desperate fight for survival begins.
The fourth series will be directed by David Caffrey (Line Of Duty, Love/Hate), and given the Christmas setting, we’re expecting Peaky Blinders season 4 to land sometime towards the end of the year.
