With the upcoming sixth season of popular period crime drama Peaky Blinders set to be the last, creator Steven Knight has now teased future projects, even stating that there are plans to continue without Cillian Murphy's gang leader, Tommy Shelby. While Knight was quick to declare the actor's sheer importance to the show, the writer hinted that the world of the Peaky Blinders may branch out sometime down the line.

"In the form it is in, it is absolutely impossible for this to work without Cillian. As it grows and progresses, who knows? There may be worlds that are part of the Peaky world that are about someone else but he is the centre around [which] everything orbits."

While he did not reveal any specifics, Knight suggested once again that he hopes for Peaky Blinders to end with a movie, before revealing that he is developing the universe beyond this.

"It will go on in another form, which will be the film, and beyond that we want to keep the world going. In other words, the story of Small Heath and the Shelby family will continue on. I want to keep it going until...whenever."

It is currently unknown how any spin-offs or continuations would approach the world of Peaky Blinders, but with such a rich cast of characters, each with their own, engrossing storylines, it is not hard to imagine the ideas that must be racing around Knight's creative mind. Of course, it all depends on who survives to the end of the sixth season...

Peaky Blinders first debuted in 2013, and follows Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, the dangerous leader of the Peaky Blinders, a criminal gang based in Birmingham in 1919. The show has proven to be a huge hit, with the fifth season of the show going on to be the most popular of the show so far bringing in an average of 7 million viewers per episode.

The fifth series ended with Tommy Shelby and the gang in a precarious position following the failed assassination of Oswald Mosley, with cracks in the family beginning to form due to the ambitions of Michael. The last moments of the series finale saw Tommy continuing to succumb to the mental trauma he has been suffering from since the beginning of the show, culminating with him facing down a hallucination of his dead wife while pointing a gun at his head, seemingly poised to pull the trigger.

It was believed that Peaky Blinders would end with seven seasons, which was always creator Steven Knight's plan, but this will no longer be the case with the upcoming sixth season now due to the show's last. While this news came as a disappointment to many, executive producer Caryn Mandabach has promised that season six of Peaky Blinders will "be the best one yet", adding, "Steve's uncanny ability to be prescient about world events is only matched by his ability to make Tommy Shelby the most indelible character of our times".

It is looking more and more likely that there will be a lot more in store for the endearing criminal crew following season 6, with Knight saying recently that "I can say that my plan from the beginning was to end Peaky with a movie. That is what is going to happen."

Peaky Blinders season 6 is currently in production following several delays caused by the ongoing global situation. This comes to us courtesy of Birmingham Mail.