With the recent announcement that Steven Knight’s “Peaky Blinders” was coming to an end with one more season and a film, everyone has been wondering what plans the creator-writer has up his sleeve to concluding the acclaimed story. Well, in a new discussion with Variety, he does shed light on where the film that will end “Peaky Blinders” is in development and why the end of “Peaky Blinders” might lead to an expansion of the series’ universe into spinoffs and other shows.
READ MORE: ‘Peaky Blinders’ Will End With A Film After COVID Changed Creator’s Plans For The Show
“We are in development,” explained Knight. “It’s a fully formed idea and it has a beginning, middle, and end. And I think it’s going to be a fitting conclusion to the story told so far, but from it, there will be things I don’t really call spinoffs, but there will be other TV shows that I hope will come out of [it], that will continue to tell the story of this part of society and this family.”
But “Peaky Blinders” is far from the only project Knight is working on at the moment. He’s also prepping his script for the upcoming Princess Diana biopic, “Spencer,” starring Kristen Stewart in the title role. The film appears to be about to enter production with filmmaker Pablo Larrain at the helm.
“We are good to go,” said Knight about “Spencer.” “We are about to start filming. I can’t remember the exact date, but we’re very close to filming. We’re COVID ready. We’ve got a cast all in place and we’re ready to go, and Pablo’s brilliant. Working on the script has been a pleasure. I think it’s a different perspective on a story that we don’t all know well, but we all feel we now are a part of it. And I just found the whole thing fascinating. To talk to people who knew her and to try and get a view of this person — who this person really was — who was an ordinary person in extraordinary situations, is the way I think of her.”
READ MORE: ‘Spencer’: Kristen Stewart To Play Princess Diana In Pablo Larraín’s New Film
But those concerned that “Spencer” will be similar to the story told in the latest season of “The Crown,” while the events are likely going to be similar (it is history, after all), there won’t be many similarities between the two projects. Why is this? Well, for one, Knight admitted that he never watched an episode of “The Crown” for fear that the series would “rub off” on him, and even subconsciously, he may find himself taking notes from the show.
There’s no release date set for “Spencer,” but with production expected to begin soon, we can likely expect a 2022 release. That is, unless Larrain can turn it around faster and release it in time for awards consideration later this year? We’ll have to wait and see.
The “Peaky Blinders” film is even further off in the ether, as the sixth season has yet to go into production and release on the BBC and Netflix. So, until then, we can’t even really begin to predict when the film conclusion will debut.