'Peaky Blinders' Tommy Shelby Delivers Message to Actor With Arthur's Death (SPOILERS)
Arthur's death may have been tied to a much larger issue off-screen.
Published March 25 2026, 9:43 a.m. ET
The Peaky Blinders fandom is no stranger to the death of Arthur Shelby, the dangerous and volatile Shelby brother who supposedly died in Season 4.
But, of course, he wasn't actually dead.
So, fans were a little confused when the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man movie dropped and Arthur was nowhere to be found. Eventually, brother Tommy Shelby dropped a bombshell about his brother's absence. As it turns out, Tommy killed Arthur. Here's why that happened and how Arthur's death may have been tied to a much larger issue off-screen.
Why did Tommy Shelby kill his brother Arthur?
It's safe to say that Arthur, played by Paul Anderson, is a complex character who isn't exactly the most beloved Shelby brother. But his so-called "death" in Season 4 was a head-scratcher.
Arthur's out-of-control drug habit was starting to affect the family, and it came to a crescendo in Season 4.
As far as fans knew, Arthur was strangled to death. But it was all a ruse, intended to lure Luis Changretta into a trap to exact revenge against him for the death of John Shelby.
Arthur eventually cleaned up his act, for the most part, when the Peaky Blinders gang went legit, and the Shelby Company Limited was founded.
From there, he worked as company vice president and eventually ran for political office.
However, when Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man dropped on Netflix in March 2026, it became evident that Arthur had died sometime in the intervening six years after Season 6's series finale.
According to Tommy, played by Cillian Murphy, his death was the result of a tragic accident.
Here's what we know about Arthur Shelby's death in the series.
We eventually learn that, unsurprisingly, there's more to the story. At first, audiences are led to believe that Arthur took his own life. And then we get the bizarre story from Tommy.
Tommy eventually reveals that Arthur asked him for money, and they had a fight that led to a car chase. Tommy initially claims that Arthur's death was an accident, but eventually, he admits: "I killed [my] own brother, because I wanted to be free of him."
However, Arthur's death may have little to do with Tommy's exasperation with his brother and everything to do with legal woes that actor Paul Anderson faced off-screen.
According to the Irish Star, 50-year-old Anderson was recently convicted of riding a BMW motorbike without insurance in leafy St John's Wood close to Lord's Cricket Ground on August 12, 2024.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine and amphetamines on Jan. 25, 2024, after he was caught apparently using by people in a pub bathroom.
While there is no confirmation that Arthur's death was the result of Anderson's off-screen behavior, this wouldn't be the first time an actor was abruptly written out of a story due to allegations of poor behavior.
Amazon Prime's The Expanse famously wrote Cas Anvar, who played pilot Alex Kamal, off the show after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
Either way, it would seem that Arthur's death is for real this time, and we aren't likely to see a return or redemption arc. Tommy may have been giving in to his own darker impulses, but he also may have been delivering a no-tolerance message for the actor himself through the producers.