Why isn't Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man? Paul Anderson character's absence explained
In The Bleak Midwinter...
Peaky Blinders would not be what it is without Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) – but then again, Tommy would not be who he is without his brother, Arthur Shelby.
Throughout the series run, Tommy and Arthur’s complicated sibling bond became the anchor that cemented Peaky Blinders. While Tommy was the brains, Arthur was the enforcer – often to his own detriment.
When The Immortal Man was announced, fans assumed he would play a major role in the Peaky Blinders movie. So it came as a shock when it was confirmed that Arthur actor Paul Anderson would not be involved.
So where exactly did we leave Arthur? What happened to him, and why wasn’t he in The Immortal Man?
Here’s everything you need to know..
***Warning: Major spoilers for The Immortal Man Ahead!***
What happened when we last saw Arthur Shelby?
Arthur was a long-held fan favourite thanks to his quick-witted one-liners, short fuse and tender heart.
However, by the time we last saw him in 1933, he was a shell of his former self. On and off the wagon when it came to an opium addiction, his marriage to Linda was hanging on by a thread.
Thankfully, he seemed to be heading in the right direction as the final series played out – until he discovered Tommy had an inoperable brain tumour.
As it turns out, Fascist leader Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) orchestrated the brain tumour diagnosis as a cruel ruse. A Nazi-sympathising doctor assisted in the plan to trick Tommy into thinking he was losing his mind.
When Tommy found out, he got a new lease of life. He decided to break away from Birmingham anyway, returning to his Gypsy Romany roots to live out his days on the road.
However, viewers never saw Arthur find out the truth. He was missing from Tommy’s farewell dinner, instead leaving a letter telling his brother “wherever you go, that’s where I’ll be”. The scene suggests that he may be planning to die by suicide, intending to follow his brother to the grave.
What happens to Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man?
Early in the film, it becomes clear that Arthur Shelby did die, but not in 1933. He actually lived another five years before eventually dying off-screen in December 1938.
Tommy has a gravestone to commemorate Arthur at his home. It reads “In The Bleak Midwinter…”
It is implied Arthur killed himself, either intentionally or by accident, throughout the first half of the movie.
Losing his partner-in-crime broke something inside Tommy. It is one of the biggest reasons why he removed himself from Birmingham into a life of solitude.
Tommy continues to be haunted by Arthur, with his head being “blown wide open” after his death. This includes mystical visions similar to the initial series, where he kept seeing his wife Grace (Annabelle Wallis) despite her death.
It is implied throughout the original show that Tommy has some level of clairvoyance as part of his Romany gypsy heritage. From this, he can sometimes receive messages or visions from the dead.
However, Tommy has nearly always dismissed them, believing them to be figments of his imagination.
How did Arthur Shelby actually die?
As The Immortal Man plays out, it becomes clear Tommy isn’t being truthful about what happened to Arthur.
Romany medium Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) later confronts him, claiming that Arthur’s spirit had visited her.
To prove she’s telling the truth, Kaulo tells Tommy that, despite what most believed, Arthur told her he was not alone when he died.
This scares Tommy and knowing, he can’t hide the truth, he confirms he was with his brother in a car that night.
He explains he had got into an argument with Arthur, who had come to him asking for money. When Tommy denied it, his brother stole his car and later crashed it.
As she pushes him further, Tommy shares that he tracked Arthur down, and the pair had fought inside the vehicle. In an accident amid the brawl, his gun had gone off, shooting and killing Arthur as a result.
The film intentionally avoids showing Arthur’s face in scenes of his death, leaving the details open to interpretation.
This is what truly broke Tommy, and he’s been struggling ever since. Unable to forgive himself for what he did, he sees visions of Arthur wherever he goes.
But it turns out even that isn’t the entire story. As The Immortal Man comes to a head, Tommy admits he actually killed Arthur deliberately in a fit of rage. Tired after years of problems with his brother, he wanted to be free.
Arthur later briefly appears to Tommy in a blink-and-you’ll miss it vision. As Tommy fights for his life to escape a collapsed tunnel, he sees a flash of Arthur sitting on the rubble.
Why did Paul Anderson not return as Arthur Shelby for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man?
Steven Knight and Cillian Murphy have not given an official reason for Paul Anderson’s absence from the film.
However, Anderson was dealing with personal issues while The Immortal Man was in pre-production. Police arrested him in December 2023 for possessing Class A crack cocaine, Class B amphetamines, and two Class C prescription substances.
He pleaded guilty to all four charges in January 2024, and the court fined him a total of £1,345.
According to The Guardian, Anderson’s lawyer said in mitigation “[Anderson] is often recognised and does his best to please fans of the show by slipping into character”.
The lawyer claimed “people often give him inducements” but denied Anderson used the drugs, noting the actor had “found himself in an unfortunate position and should have had the strength to say no”.
At the time of writing, Anderson has not spoken either about his lack of appearance in the movie. However, he continues to regularly post photos of Arthur, wishing everyone “a Blinder of a Christmas” last year.
In January, he returned to our screens starring in Prime Video’s The Gray House.
He plays Deputy Marshal Stokely Reeves in the series, which follows a group of women and their involvement in the Underground Railroad during the US Civil War.
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