An aging badass is forced out of his self-imposed exile in an effort to save his family, and the world, one last time. If that sounds like the plot of 2021’s James Bond film No Time to Die, you’re not wrong. But, broadly, it’s also the plot of the new hit Netflix movie and TV series sequel, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Set after the events of the popular TV series, The Immortal Man finds former mob boss Tommy heading back into the fray to prevent his son from doing something horrible and, also, fight some Nazis. Writer Steven Knight created Tommy and the Peaky Blinders universe, and his current gig is writing the next big-screen Bond movie.

What can Bond fans learn about the next Bond movie from Knight’s most recent Peaky Blinders script? Perhaps nothing directly, but if Bond 26 has half the heart of The Immortal Man, it will be amazing. And the aesthetics of the film, combined with Cillian Murphy’s performance, suggest that despite all the talk about a younger actor playing Bond, a one-off movie featuring a different, seasoned Bond in his 50s could totally work. Mild spoilers ahead for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.

There is more than one scene in The Immortal Man in which Murphy wields a gun with an expression mixed with angst and grit that screams James Bond. Perhaps not a slick, fun Bond like Pierce Brosnan in 1995, or Roger Moore in 1973, but a darker, sadder, yet more real Bond. Yes, that description makes people think of Daniel Craig’s 007, but what Murphy brings to Tommy Shelby is a haunted quality. It’s not just that he’s cool, or sad, or grumpy; he’s dealing with ghosts, both literal and figurative.