Tom Hardy has joined the cast of BBC drama Peaky Blinders, it has been revealed.

Hardy, who has starred in Hollywood blockbusters including The Dark Knight Rises and Inception, has agreed to feature in the second season of the show and will now reunite with director and writer Steven Knight, who Hardy worked with on last years’ thriller Locke.

According to Empire, Hardy will play a charismatic leader who clashes with the show’s protagonist Tommy Shelby, who is played by Cillian Murphy. Peaky Blinders, which is set in Birmingham in 1919 and tells the story of a gang known for sewing razor blades into their caps as they try to rule crime in the city, won critical acclaim when it was aired in 2013 and shooting on the second season is set to begin later this year.


It was revealed in October last year that Hardy, who is set to star in the reboot of Mad Max in 2015, has also agreed to take on the role of Elton John in the forthcoming biopic of the piano-playing icon. Titled Rocketman, the film is billed as “a larger-than-life movie musical spectacle that tells the story of a child prodigy turned music legend”. Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall has penned the script.