Warning: SPOILERS for Peaky Blinders season 6 ahead.
Content Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide.
Tommy’s death was guaranteed because of an inoperable tuberculoma about which Dr. Holford (Aneurin Barnard) informed him.
Although the tuberculoma was faked by Holford as a plot devised with Oswald Mosley to convince Tommy to kill himself, death often hovered over Tommy both from the nature of the affairs he engaged in and the way he approached them. Rising through the ranks as the Shelbys did from Peaky Blinders season 1 to 6, going from low-level criminals to crime bosses whose dealings reached places halfway around the world, upped the stakes for them as the Shelby family got involved in doing business with increasingly dangerous characters. Tommy’s ambitious and intelligent ploys brought him success through the years, even helping him to secure a position as an MP, but his reckless approach often brought him close to death.
The events of Peaky Blinders season 6’s ending, particularly Tommy’s refusal to kill Holford and his symbolic funeral for his past life, pointed to Tommy’s redemption starting to be fully explored, which will probably be central in the Peaky Blinders movie. While that would still indicate a progression in Tommy’s story, it wouldn’t be the ending Peaky Blinders itself foreshadowed in its six seasons. The perfect ending to Peaky Blinders would have involved Tommy dying, as his death was hinted at since Peaky Blinders season 1 episode 1, and his death could have served as a final part of hiss own redemption story, especially if it had come in the form of sacrificing himself for something.
Why Tommy Shelby Should Have Died In Peaky Blinders' Ending
Tommy’s death would have been the perfect quote, “In the bleak Midwinter,” when commemorating the death of someone dear or preparing for his own.
Every detail revealed by Peaky Blinders suggested the only possible outcome for Tommy would have been dying. While his redemption could also offer the story something different, it goes against everything that was hinted at and set up in Peaky Blinders seasons 1 to 6. Indeed, the fact that Tommy didn’t die in the Peaky Blinders season 6 finale doesn’t mean he won’t in the Peaky Blinders movie, especially as his and the Shelby family’s story will come to an end there. Still, the Peaky Blinders movie could have set up stories connected to the Peaky Blinders but not directly to Tommy while also giving his story the perfect ending, instead, Peaky Blinders season 6 missed the chance and went back on the show’s multiple hints about the sensible ending to Tommy’s story.