'Peaky Blinders' Creator Compares His Upcoming Take on James Bond to Robin Hood

5 days ago 14

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

The future of the James Bond franchise is primed and ready, with Amazon having nabbed the rights to the iconic series for an eye-watering $1 billion. As rumors swirl about the identity of the next 007, with Eternity star Callum Turner currently the bookies' favorite, updates consistently race in as pre-production on the next Bond installment continues. Having already admitted he is writing without a specific lead actor in mind, and having promised a "stronger and bolder" story than fans have seen before, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the man behind the script for the 26th Bond movie, has delivered yet another teasing update.

In a recent interview, after admitting he "can't say anything about it" other than that he is having "a fantastic time," Knight discussed the importance of the Bond brand and how the character should be treated with the respect an icon deserves. "Obviously, with Bond, what you're dealing with is now a character of folklore, really," Knight said, adding, "It's like Robin Hood or King Arthur, in the context of the culture of this country and beyond. And so you've got to treat it with respect."

Comparing Bond to Robin Hood might not have been what many expected, but itmakes extraordinary sense and proves once again that the franchise is in safe hands with Knight and director Denis Villeneuve. Exactly how their partnership will manifest in a Bond installment remains to be seen, and with the hunt for a supposedly young actor to play 007 ongoing, it's likely we won't know until 2027 or perhaps even 2028.

When Is Knight's 'Peaky Blinders' Movie Coming Out?

Before Knight's attention turns in earnest to Bond, there is the small matter of the feature-length next installment of the writer's most famous creation. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, starring Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, is scheduled to hit theaters on March 6, before heading to Netflix two weeks later on March 20, 2026. Featuring a star-studded line-up alongside Murphy, including Rebecca Ferguson (A House of Dynamite), Tim Roth (The Hateful Eight), Sophie Rundle (After the Flood), Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), and Stephen Graham (Adolescence), among others, the movie is set to be one of Netflix's biggest of the year and is sure to dominate the streaming charts.