Irish actor Barry Keoghan joins cast of Birmingham-based Peaky Blinders film

Irish actor Barry Keoghan is set to join fellow Irish actor Cillian Murphy for the upcoming Peaky Blinders film, based in Birmingham.

Keoghan, 31, who was nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award for dark comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin, will play an undisclosed role in the upcoming movie from the period drama and crime show’s creator Steven Knight.

The 31-year-old Dublin actor, also known for Saltburn, will appear in the movie as the action shifts to follow the Shelby family into the Second World War.

Oscar-winner Murphy, 48, has already signed on to come back as gangster Tommy Shelby.

The original series, which ran for six series from 2013 to 2022 on the BBC, follows the rise of the Shelby family from after the First World War onwards.

Dune actress Rebecca Ferguson has also been announced for the new movie, but Netflix has not disclosed which character she will take on.

Knight previously described the upcoming film as an “explosive chapter” in the Peaky Blinders story with “no holds barred”.

In March 2023, he unveiled the site of a new "world-beating" film studio complex in Birmingham.

The new Digbeth Loc Studios are set to be one of the key filming locations for the new Peaky Blinders film.

Murphy, who will co-produce the film, said it was “one for the fans”.

Earlier this year, he dominated the awards season for his starring role in epic biopic Oppenheimer.

The Corkman took home an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Bafta and a Screen Actors Guild award for playing theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer in Sir Christopher Nolan’s biopic about the father of the atomic bomb.

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