Peaky Blinders fans angry over 'unacceptable' missing character in The Immortal Man: 'A let-down'
He was one of the best characters in Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man has already divided fans, but there’s been one near-unanimous complaint – and it concerns the “unacceptable” absence of a fan-favourite character.
The new movie takes place six years after the finale. Tommy (Cillian Murphy) returns to Birmingham, which has been shellshocked by the explosive chaos of the Second World War, to face his “most destructive reckoning yet” – and reunite with his son, Duke (Barry Keoghan).
Keoghan may be a new addition, but several stars from the show have reprised their roles. Sophie Rundle is back as Ada, as well as Packy Lee as Johnny Dogs and Stephen Graham’s Hayden Stagg.
There’s probably one character above all else you’ve been hoping to see again. Alas, he doesn’t appear in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man – and fans aren’t happy.
***Warning: spoilers for Peaky Blinders and the movie ahead***
Is Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man?
No, Tom Hardy doesn’t reprise his role as Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Worse yet, he’s never even mentioned.
That isn’t to say a cameo would have made sense. Remember, Peaky Blinders ended with Alfie handing control of Camden over to Tommy in exchange for a bigger, much more valuable territory in Boston.
This had been teased earlier in series 6 when Tommy threatened to go through Alfie’s relatives if Michael Gray and co. didn’t sell his opium.
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He made a brief appearance in the finale, following Michael’s death at the hands of Tommy. He revealed he was newly married (to a woman named Edna), and he now owned half of Boston.
So, think about it. Alfie relocated to America, he had cancer (which he hinted he’d recovered from, to be fair), and the film takes place in WWII. There’s a good chance he’s already dead in the franchise’s timeline, but it’s unlikely he’d be able to cross the pond in wartime, even if he wanted to.
As Tommy told him, his opera was “complete”. If Alfie appeared, it would have just been for the fans (which isn’t a bad thing).
Peaky Blinders creator scrapped a huge ‘ghost’ twist with Alfie
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Knight was asked if he considered bringing Alfie back for The Immortal Man.
“I didn’t do it in the end, but I had an idea, which I haven’t really spoken about. Ever since he was shot on the beach at Margate [in season 4], you’ve only ever seen Tommy and Alfie together alone. There’s never been anyone else,” he said.
“I thought, maybe he appears, and we realise he’s been dead all that time.”
That would have been an enormous twist, especially since we were told he’d taken over a large part of Boston’s business at the end of the series.
“Now, I nearly did that, and I didn’t do it, but that was a thought,” Knight added.
He was also asked if he’s ever considered an Alfie spin-off. “I don’t think it would work,” he said.
“He’s so good, and he’s been so great with Alfie. He wouldn’t let Alfie die when I killed him… he kept texting, saying, ‘Alfie’s not dead.’ So back he came. But in terms of there being an Alfie Solomons series, no. We did do Taboo, and we’re talking about doing another Taboo.”
Peaky Blinders fume over Alfie’s absence in The Immortal Man
As Steven Knight has said, The Immortal Man is the end of “this part of the Peaky story”. So, who cares if it would have been nothing more than fan service? Fans wanted to see Hardy as Alfie one last time, and the movie doesn’t deliver.
One fan who was left “completely disappointed” by the film highlighted Alfie’s absence as a problem. “A let-down for fans was no scene with Alfie,” another commented on Reddit.
“Not even having a cameo of Alfie is unacceptable. I cannot abide this movie,” a third wrote.
“No cameo from Alfie was disappointing,” a fourth added.
“There were some good moments and some nice references back to the beginning, but… no cameo from Alfie was disappointing,” another wrote. “Their absence just makes the whole thing feel strangely disconnected from the Peaky Blinders world,” a sixth viewer commented.
“With WWII and the holocaust happening, it would have been perfect to include Alfie to defeat whatever Nazi threat was looming,” another fan argued.
He’s not the only character missing: find out what happened to Paul Anderson’s Arthur Shelby here.
Read more: All 6 Peaky Blinders stars who have died since the show ended
