‘Peaky Blinders’: Season 6 Detail Possibly Foreshadows Arthur’s Death

Peaky Blinders season 6 premiered on Sunday, February 27th and the first episode was deemed an excellent return of the series, gaining numerous positive reviews. One detail that may have been missed by some, however, seems to foreshadow how and when Arthur Shelby will die in the same way that John Shelby’s death was foreshadowed.

The episode , Black Day, begins with the reveal that several characters were killed by the IRA. Four years later, in 1933, we see Arthur Shelby deep into his drug addiction and barely functioning.  While lying half-consciously on the stairs , Tommy’s son, Charles, uses a toy gun and pretends to shoot Arthur and Arthur in turn pretends to die. Although this is seemingly innocent and insignificant moment, a previous, similar scene ended up being a announcement of a dark event.

In season 2, episode 3, Tommy, Arthur and John are doing some interviews when Digbeth Kid shows them a holster – before revealing it is a fake gun made of wood. Tommy takes it from the kid and pretends to shoot Arthur and Arthur, playing along, ducks down, avoiding being shot.

When Tommy does the same thing to John, he, however, pretends to die, throwing his head back and exhaling his smoke. This event foreshadows the episode 1 of season 4 in which John is gunned down and Tommy is blamed for starting the war which led to his death.

Since Arthur is once again shot at with a fake gun, but this time pretends to die instead of ducking down or shooting back, this may suggest that he will die in a hail of bullets, and the use of Tommy’s wooden gun may even foreshadow that he will be blamed for Arthur’s death.

In Peaky Blinders, the use of symbolism and foreshadowing is a norm, so fans tend to analyze every little thing looking for the next clue. Although this one really does sound convincing, it should, as all the predictions, be taken with a grain of salt.

Peaky Blinders releases new episodes Sunday on BBC.