Peaky Blinders is currently preparing for a third season, with writer Steve Knight confirming the crowd-pleasing news that Tom Hardy will be reprising his role as local hard-case Alfie Solomons.



"Yes, Tom is coming back," confirmed Knight to Deadline, before hinting at further big-name appearances to come. "We have new big roles that are written and have enormous interest from really good people. We’re hoping to land some good names. The response from everyone and people in the business has been unbelievably good, so we’re in a good place for approaching people who wouldn’t normally do this sort of thing."



And as for how the story will develop, Knight has some big ideas about how the narrative will tie in to the wider period setting. "It’s a longshot, but the ambition is, I would love to end the final episode of the final series with the first air-raid fire of the Second World War."



"We’ve been going in two-year jumps so that would be like about 10 series. We may have to start making bigger jumps to get to that point. But I’ll let the story lead (and do) what feels natural." Series three of Peaky Blinders is scheduled to arrive in 2016.



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