Peaky Blinders film: will Paul Anderson be axed from Arthur Shelby role over drugs fine, is movie cancelled?

Paul Anderson, 48, who played drug addicted Birmingham gangster Arthur Shelby in the BBC crime drama Peaky Blinders, has been fined for drug possession this month. The actor was found with drugs including crack cocaine on Boxing Day 2023 and appeared at a London magistrates court on January 25.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of drug possession including crack cocaine and was charged £1,345. The actor has only appeared in one screen project since Peaky Blinders came to an end, playing Donal in Netflix action comedy Lift, but is also set to star in upcoming American Civil War drama The Gray House.

Anderson was expected to reprise his role as Arthur Shelby in a long anticipated Peaky Blinders movie, but few details of the film have been confirmed, and it is possible that his recent brush with the law may affect his career.

Has the Peaky Blinders movie been cancelled?

The Peaky Blinders movie is still going ahead, though updates on the film have been thin on the ground since the BBC series came to a dramatic end in 2022. Showrunner Steven Knight said that he always planned to cap the story off with a film, and it was confirmed in 2021 that a movie was happening.

In 2022 Knight said “I think of this sixth series as the end of the beginning”, and suggested that he planned to set the film during the Second World War, five years after where the series came to an end.

There are plans for the film to begin filming in mid-2024, with the script now either in its final stages or completed. Going on this timeline, it is likely that the Peaky Blinders film will be released some time in 2025.

Will Paul Anderson be in the Peaky Blinders movie?

None of the cast of the Peaky Blinders film, including lead star Cillian Murphy, have officially been confirmed, but Knight has previously stated that both Murphy and Anderson will reprise their roles.

With the script already written, axing Anderson at this late stage a few months before production is expected to get underway would be a laborious task. Additionally, as Anderson was not jailed as a result of his crime, he is less likely to face severe professional penalties as a result.

Anderson shared a video of himself as Arthur Shelby on his Instagram story yesterday (January 27) followed by a picture of him in the role today, which suggests that he at least is not concerned about his TV legacy being damaged.