Who is Stephen Graham playing in 'Peaky Blinders' season 6? Our theories!

Stephen Graham in Peaky Blinders
Stephen Graham in 'Peaky Blinders'. (Image credit: BBC)

From Line of Duty to Boardwalk Empire, Stephen Graham has appeared in some massive shows during a glittering career on the small screen, so we can't wait to see what happens when he joins the cast of Peaky Blinders season 6 - the show's final season. 

Details of who Graham will be playing are thin on the ground, yet fans had speculated that he would enter the story as Chicago mobster Al Capone, a role he famously played in HBO hit Boardwalk Empire

However, showrunner Stephen Knight dispelled those rumors earlier this year and confirmed the star would be playing a character who hails from the city of Liverpool.

"I didn’t want to go West, because it’s a minefield once you go into Chicago gangsters," he said when asked about the link to Al Capone. "I will go West in the new series but not in that way."

"I really wanted to use Stephen and there is a particular Scouse character that becomes part of the story – and who else would you cast?" continued Steve. "I think he’s just happy to be using his own accent."

We also got a little taste of Stephen's as-of-yet unnamed Scouse character in this special clip, which dropped in December...

But who will Stephen Graham be playing? Here are some of our theories...

Stephen Graham is playing a Liverpool gangster...

The Peaky Blinders were dealt a terrible blow when their plot to assassinate Oswald Mosley at the end of the fifth series went awry and maybe a rival gang has set its sights on Tommy Shelby and his boys after sensing their weakness?

Famous gangs including 'The High Rip', who terrorized the streets of Liverpool with belt buckle beatings, and 'The Cornermen', who targeted victims on street corners, were both powerful in the city a few decades before, but their influence had dwindled by the 1930s. 

Could Stephen be playing the boss of a new gang trying to muscle in on the Peaky Blinders' turf? 

Stephen Graham is playing a Liverpool docker...

Steven Knight may have said Peaky Blinders won't be heading to Chicago, but he did confirm this year's series will be heading to America - or 'West' - as he puts it. 

We already know from the fifth series about the Birmingham outfit's ambitions to build an opium empire and as one of Britain's most prominent ports, Liverpool could be the origin of any trans-Atlantic drug shipments. Good canal links with the gang's home city would also make Liverpool a convenient base of operations. 

Will Stephen Graham's character be managing the shipments for them? Or maybe he's a dock manager or union boss who needs to be paid off? 

Tom Hardy and Alfie Solomons

Tom Hardy will return as Alfie Solomons in the sixth series (Image credit: BBC)

Stephen Graham is playing an associate of Alfie Solomons...

We were so excited when Steven Knight confirmed Tom Hardy would be returning as Jewish mobster Alfie Solomons, and he obviously has a part to play in this final part of the saga. 

Could Stephen Graham be playing one of his associates? Either way, we hope Tom Hardy and Stephen Graham get a scene together! 🔥

Stephen Graham is playing a fascist...

We'd be heartbroken if this were true, but with Cillian Murphy confirming Tommy's battle against the ideology will continue in the upcoming season, it might be. "That storyline is very much unfinished," he explains. "It will continue in a very interesting way."

Could Stephen Graham be playing one of Oswald Mosley's henchmen or foot soldiers? Maybe he was involved in the operation to foil the Peaky Blinders' attempt to assassinate Mosley at the end of series five? Or is he one of Mosley's associates Tommy believes could be turned?

Peaky Blinders season six begins on Sunday, Feb. 27 on BBC1 and will be coming to Netflix later this year. 

Sean Marland

Sean is a Senior Feature writer for TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week, who also writes for whattowatch.com. He's been covering the world of TV for over 15 years and in that time he's been lucky enough to interview stars like Ian McKellen, Tom Hardy and Kate Winslet. His favourite shows are I'm Alan Partridge, The Wire, People Just Do Nothing and Succession and in his spare time he enjoys drinking tea, doing crosswords and watching football.