Peaky Blinders Movie Nearly Snagged a Massive Marvel A-Lister for a Surprise Cameo

Here’s a little Peaky Blinders trivia for you—turns out, the long-awaited movie could have gone in a completely wild direction with one of its biggest names. And yep, it would have totally thrown a curveball into the gang’s already twisty lore.

Tom Hardy's Almost-Cameo as Alfie Solomons

If you’re thinking, 'Wait, didn’t Alfie die... and then come back?'—you remember correctly. Tom Hardy’s scene-stealing gangster, Alfie Solomons, got shot in the face by Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) on that Margate beach back in season 4. And yet, in true Peaky fashion, he somehow wandered back into the story, looking only slightly worse for wear.

But in a recent chat with The Hollywood Reporter, creator Steven Knight let slip that he originally cooked up something totally different for the upcoming film, ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’. He actually considered bringing back Tom Hardy, but not the way you’d expect.

Here’s the wild bit—Knight thought about having Hardy’s Alfie appear in the film not as a flesh-and-blood character, but as a full-on ghost. Or, more precisely, as a figment of Tommy’s imagination. Basically, the idea was that after Alfie took that bullet in season 4, every single time we saw Tommy and Alfie together since—they’d actually just been Tommy talking to himself. Kind of a Sixth Sense thing, but with more swearing and baked goods.

Knight explained:

'I didn’t do it in the end, but I had an idea… Ever since [Alfie] was shot on the beach at Margate, you’ve only ever seen Tommy and Alfie together alone. There’s never been anyone else. I thought, maybe he appears, and we realize he’s been dead all that time. Now, I nearly did that, and I didn’t do it, but that was a thought.'

So, not only would that have upended a bunch of the show’s post-season-4 timeline, it would’ve turned some of the best Tommy-Alfie banter into one extended hallucination. Honestly, Peaky has always loved its psychological drama, but this would’ve taken it up a notch.

Alfie: Dead or Not Dead?

• Season 4: Tommy shoots Alfie on the beach—seems like he’s gone for good.
• Later seasons: Alfie’s back, a little scarred but somehow not dead.
• Knight's scrapped plan: Alfie's 'return' would have been all in Tommy’s head. If they’d gone this route, we’d have to reinterpret pretty much every scene they shared post-shooting.

Sorry, No Solo Alfie Show Coming

For fans hoping all this means a spin-off for Alfie Solomons—don’t hold your breath. Knight also made it clear he has no interest in giving Alfie a series of his own, even if Tom Hardy keeps insisting the character isn’t dead. Apparently Hardy used to text Knight just to say, 'Alfie’s not dead.' (Honestly, sounds on brand.) But a solo series? Knight’s words: 'No, I never have. I don’t think it would work.'

So, to sum up: The Peaky Blinders movie almost featured Tom Hardy in a ghostly cameo that would have retconned the entire Alfie comeback. It didn’t happen—but for a minute there, we were veering dangerously close to full-blown psychological horror, Peaky-style.