Peaky Blinders fans have just realised two of the biggest stars are brothers

Metro

08-07-2025

It may have been over three years since the last season of Peaky Blinders but fans are still discovering new behind-the-scenes lore everyday.
The hit 1920s gangster thriller set in Birmingham followed crime boss Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and the trials and tribulations he faces as carves out an empire for his family.
The Bafta-winning BBC series has built a loyal fanbase over its six seasons who now have a Netflix sequel movie to look forward to so the hype has been sustained over the years (including several rewatches of the original show, no doubt).
As such, some fans have put two and two together and realised that key characters – John Shelby and Michael Gray – are played by real-life brothers Joe, 36, and Finn Cole, 29, respectively.
In the show Joe plays the brother of our lead character Thomas and is a core part of the family dynasty before his tragic death in season four.
Not to worry as those wishing to see him in a gangster show need only flick over to Sky series Gangs of London where he plays Sean Wallace.
Other credits to his name include Black Mirror and recent BBC thriller Nightsleeper.
Meanwhile, Finn portrays a fictional relation to John as one of the Shelby cousins, with his character being promoted from supporting to main cast in the final three seasons of the show as he became a central villain.
If you somehow still need your memory jogging, his character is also married to Anya Taylor's-Joy's, Gina Gray, and his fictional mother was portrayed by the late Helen McCroy as Polly.
The actor most recently appeared opposite Woody Harrelson in the 2025 movie Last Breath – but Peaky Blinders is the only project the duo have worked on together.
Neither of the brothers share the screen that often on the show, however.
Over on Reddit, user ayethink wrote: 'Just found out that John and Michael are brothers in real life.'
'This is some awesome fact,' sedated_cartoon echoed.
Several of the fans pointed out that they 'don't really look alike' while others wished they had been in more scenes together.
'It's a neat fact and makes me wish they could've had more scenes together. One of my favorite scenes is when they teach Michael to shoot, they played well together imo [in my opinion],' oklimato said.
'Both are great actors though, played their characters perfectly,' duckiefie added.
Much like Viggo Mortensen breaking his foot when he kicked that helmet in the second Lord of the Rings movie, it's almost become a rite of passage to discover this factual nugget on your journey as a Peaky Blinders fan.
Joe is the eldest of five brothers with Finn the only one who has decided follow in his acting footsteps.
In 2023 he spoke about how he and his brother both ended up on the show with Graham Norton on Virgin Radio UK.
'I was working on Peaky Blinders and they were doing open casting for season two to play a cousin of ours. Big part, one of the new lead roles and they were cast around Birmingham and I was looking at my brother over Christmas and thought 'I reckon he could give this a shot'
'I'd seen him in a couple very ropey school plays and was like 'maybe if I worked with him a bit'.
'Anyway I sent him the application, he went away, learnt the accent, did the prep, called me up and said 'I'm ready'. I decided to film with him at home with my iPhone… long story short he did a bunch of auditions, got the part and it's honestly my proudest achievement.'
As well as a movie created by Steven Knight, he also recently teased that the Peaky Blinder universe hasn't bitten the small screen dust yet either. More Trending
Unfortunately, Finn won't be showing up in any future series because, much like Joe, his character was killed off in season six after a tense showdown with Tommy.
'It's not over. Let's just put it that way. I'm not allowed to announce it, but I'm just saying that the world of Peaky will continue,' he said.
Sources added to the Sun that a new show set in the 1950s could come to the BBC as early as next year though it remains to be seen whether this will actually come to pass.
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Peaky Blinders is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
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