Peaky Blinders brings back key character for season 5 finale

This article contains major spoilers for the season 5 finale of Peaky Blinders.

Peaky Blinders' season 5 finale ended with one of the show's boldest ever cliffhangers on Sunday (September 22) as Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) seemingly lost his mind and looked poised to kill himself.

But the main talking point for fans was the highly anticipated return of a major character, and of course there are further spoilers below if you aren't up to date yet...

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BBC

Yes, Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons is back, having miraculously survived being shot in the face by Tommy at the end of season four.

Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomon - Peaky Blinders

BBC

Alfie's resurrection of sorts was alluded to in last week's episode by some rather cryptic comments made by Tommy.

Discussing who might provide some certainty in the south for Oswald Mosley, he told Jimmy McCavern (Brian Gleeson): “I would suggest the most competent organiser of men in the south is Alfie Solomons.”

So it seemed inevitable that Alfie would make his return tonight, and it's safe to say that fans were ecstatic to see him back on the BBC drama.

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Fans were treated to a captivating reunion as Tommy met up with Alfie at his place in Margate (or 'Hell', as Alfie described it).

"How soon did you know that I was not dead?" asked Alfie.

"You wrote me a letter, Alfie. You asked about your dog." replied Tommy.

BBC

Tommy paid Alfie a visit to ask for his help with his plan to assassinate fascist party leader Oswald Mosley. Tommy needed Alfie's men to create a distraction at Oswald's rally, so that sniper Barney Thompson could take the shot.

However, Tommy was betrayed by someone and the plan backfired as Barney was killed before he could assassinate Oswald.

Considering he's betrayed Tommy before, could Alfie be the one responsible for foiling his assassination attempt? Regardless, now we know Tom Hardy's character is still alive, it seems highly possible we could see him again in season 6.

Peaky Blinders airs on BBC One.

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