Peaky Blinders Timeline Explained: Where the Movie Fits + What You Must Remember From Season 6
Peaky Blinders timeline explained (1919–1940): the Season 6 recap you need, and where The Immortal Man fits
Updated: March 8, 2026
Peaky Blinders is easy to binge and surprisingly easy to forget—because every season jumps years, not weeks. If you’re trying to place the movie on the calendar (and remember what actually mattered in Season 6), this is the clean, year-by-year guide.
- The show runs: 1919 → 1933/34 (Season 6).
- The movie lands in: 1940, in the middle of World War II.
- Season 6’s job: it clears old revenge (Polly), installs new blood (Duke), and “resets” Tommy’s fate.
Quick timeline: every season’s year (plus the movie)
| Chapter | Main year(s) | What’s happening in the world around the Shelbys | Why it matters for the movie |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 1919 | Post-WWI chaos in Birmingham; returning soldiers; unrest. | Establishes Tommy’s war trauma and why “peace” never arrives. |
| Season 2 | 1921–1922 | IRA turmoil and political pressure collide with gang business. | Sets the long-running pattern: crime, politics, and intelligence services overlap. |
| Season 3 | 1924 | High-level power games; the Shelby world expands beyond the streets. | Shows how Tommy becomes valuable (and dangerous) to people above the law. |
| Season 4 | 1925–1926 (into 1927) | Vendettas; nationwide unrest; general strike era. | Demonstrates the Shelby “survival mode” that returns in Season 6. |
| Season 5 | 1929 | Economic collapse and rising fascist currents. | The Mosley threat becomes the story’s big shadow. |
| Season 6 | Dec 1933–1934 | Europe sliding toward war; the Shelby family fractures under pressure. | Directly sets the chessboard: Duke, Finn, Billy Grade, and Tommy’s “new life.” |
| Movie | 1940 | World War II reaches home; Birmingham is a strategic, industrial target. | Tommy returns in wartime, after Season 6’s ending leaves him alive—but unmoored. |
The key point: Season 6 ends in the mid-1930s, and the film jumps to 1940. So you’re not looking for “the next day.” You’re looking for the next era.
Where the movie fits: a jump from 1933/34 to 1940
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is positioned as a wartime chapter—set in Birmingham, 1940. Timeline-wise, it’s a leap of roughly seven years after Season 6’s events.
That jump matters because it naturally answers the biggest Season 6 question: What is Tommy Shelby when he’s no longer “scheduled” to die? Season 6 ends with Tommy alive, but stripped down—family ties strained, political enemies still powerful, and the “old” Peaky Blinders structure already shifting to a successor generation.
Peaky Blinders announcement post on X
The vibe shift is the point. The show’s early years are about post-WWI survival. The movie era is about WWII pressure—when the entire country is mobilized, watched, rationed, and reshaped, and criminal power has to adapt or die.
Netflix Film Instagram post
If you want the cleanest “starting pistol” for the film, it’s this: Season 6 ends with the Shelby world reorganizing—and the film begins after time has passed long enough for those changes to harden into a new status quo.
Official trailer
What you must remember from Season 6 (the non-negotiables)
Season 6 is doing three big jobs at once: grieving Polly, detonating betrayals, and setting up a successor path. Here are the pieces that actually carry forward.
1) Polly’s death is the wound the season keeps reopening
The family gathers in the aftermath of Polly’s murder, and the season treats it like a moral debt. It’s not just “sad.” It’s why revenge stays on the table, why trust collapses, and why the Peaky Blinders increasingly feel like a machine that eats its own.
2) Ruby’s illness and death changes Tommy’s internal story
Ruby’s tuberculosis is the season’s emotional spine. It also fuels Tommy’s obsession with curses, signs, and fate— the stuff he normally mocks—because he’s desperate for a reason (and a fix) that isn’t “you can’t control everything.”
3) The “traitor” thread resolves: Billy Grade is exposed
A core Season 5 mystery is answered: Billy Grade is the leak, and the final episode makes him the test that exposes who is loyal to “the family” versus who is loyal to “their friend.”
4) Finn is banished, and that fracture is future fuel
Finn’s refusal to follow the Peaky Blinders’ internal law becomes the moment he’s pushed out. This isn’t just drama; it’s a structural change. The family is effectively saying: blood alone no longer guarantees membership.
5) Duke arrives as the successor-shaped problem
Duke’s introduction isn’t “new character fan service.” It’s a deliberate replacement function in the story. The show is building a next-generation axis: Duke + Isiah on one side, and a displaced Finn on the other.
6) Michael’s revenge ends decisively
The finale closes the loop on Michael’s vow to kill Tommy. However you felt about the pacing, the function is clear: the story stops being “Tommy vs. Michael” and pivots back to bigger forces.
7) The tuberculoma diagnosis is revealed as a political trap
The season’s biggest twist is that Tommy’s terminal diagnosis is a manufactured lie. Dr. Holford is implicated as a plant tied to Mosley’s circle—an attempt to push Tommy into suicide without making him a martyr. Tommy chooses to live, and the show ends on him riding away from the life that tried to kill him from the inside.
Reddit timeline debates: the years fans use to keep the show straight
One of the most useful things the fandom does is sanity-check the calendar. If you’ve ever thought, “Wait… how old is everyone supposed to be right now?” you’re not alone.
Series time line? (r/PeakyBlinders)
Even when details get fuzzy at the edges, the big timeline beats stay consistent: early seasons are post-WWI and the 1920s, Season 5 is 1929, Season 6 is the early-to-mid 1930s, and the film era is WWII.
What Reddit Theories Say About this Movie setup
The most common fan expectation going into the film era is that the story finally has room to pay off the “bigger than gangland” threads—fascism, intelligence games, and what it means for Tommy to be useful to the state and hated by it at the same time.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (official discussion thread)
The practical viewing tip that comes out of these discussions: treat the movie like a new chapter with old scars. Season 6 is the “injury report,” and 1940 is where the world forces everyone back onto the field.
The music bridge: the soundtrack is part of the timeline, too
Peaky Blinders has always used modern music to make history feel present-tense, not museum-distant. The movie continues that tradition with an official soundtrack release that mixes score cues and needle drops.
If you only listen to one thing before you watch: play the soundtrack while you skim a Season 6 recap. It puts you back into the show’s rhythm—because Peaky Blinders “time travel” isn’t just dates, it’s mood.
FAQ: fast answers before you hit play
Do I need to rewatch the whole series before the movie?
Not necessarily. If you’re short on time, prioritize: Season 5 finale (the failed assassination), plus Season 6 premiere and Season 6 finale (the betrayals and the ending twist).
What’s the single most important Season 6 detail?
Tommy was tricked into believing he was terminally ill, and he chooses to live after discovering the lie. That choice is the hinge that allows a 1940 story to exist.
Who is “next gen” going into the movie era?
The show positions Duke as a key successor figure, while Finn’s banishment creates a new internal enemy line.
What’s the simplest way to remember the timeline?
Think in three blocks: post-WWI (1919), late 1920s (1929), pre-WWII (1933/34), then the movie: WWII (1940).