Barry Keoghan and the Father’s Day Text That Changed His Place in Peaky Blinders

On a set that could feel like a test of endurance—wet, painful, and stretching for hours—barry keoghan stepped into “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” carrying something simpler than a costume or a script: nerves. The kind that come when you’re joining a series with a deep following, and you know people will notice every choice you make.

What happened when Barry Keoghan and Rebecca Ferguson joined “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man”?

Rebecca Ferguson and barry keoghan have been talking about what it felt like to become part of “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, ” describing the blend of excitement and pressure that comes with entering a world that already belongs, in many ways, to its audience.

“It was amazing, ” Rebecca Ferguson said, while also admitting how quickly the scale of it can hit: “This is such a following. You start thinking about it, it gets overwhelming. ” barry keoghan echoed that emotional whiplash, calling the experience “nerve-wracking, ” and adding that he had been a fan.

That fan’s instinct—to go back, rewatch, study every moment—was something he deliberately resisted once he was cast. barry keoghan explained that he chose not to rewatch the series because he didn’t want to fall into overthinking the mechanics of what came before. Instead, he wanted to enter with intention. “I decided not to rewatch it when I was cast. I didn’t want to go back and do the whole ‘OK, so that and that. ’ I was like you know what — I want to be deliberate and bold and sort of go in and do my take on it. ”

How did the Father’s Day message connect barry keoghan to Cillian Murphy?

One of the most revealing details from their conversation wasn’t about a plot point or a character secret, but about a small, modern gesture: a text message on Father’s Day.

barry keoghan recalled getting cast for the movie after texting Cillian Murphy on Father’s Day. In the telling, it lands less like industry strategy and more like the kind of impulsive outreach people make when they’re trying to be decent, or simply trying to connect.

Rebecca Ferguson added a detail that turned the moment into something almost comically intimate: “Do you know he said he got no texts from his other kids on Father’s Day — only you, ” she said, before continuing, “No breakfast in bed, no socks, no picture, but a message from Barry Keoghan. ”

barry keoghan’s response suggested he understood why the story stuck. “It’s mad. That’s mad — there’s something about that though isn’t there? There really is. I felt like I had to send that Father’s Day text somewhere, ” he said.

What do Ferguson and barry keoghan say about the set experience and “initiation”?

Joining an established production can feel like entering a workplace where everyone else already knows the rhythm—how long a day can run, how cold a room can get, and what “normal” looks like under pressure. Ferguson and barry keoghan described that first step into the project as something you can physically feel.

They also joked about whether they went through any “Peaky Blinders” initiation when they came onto the project. Ferguson offered a line that sounded like both a prank and a warning: “It was wet. It hurt. And it took five hours — but we can’t tell you what it was, ” she quipped. Then she grounded it in the reality of stepping onto the set for the first time: “No, but you felt it walking on. ”

Ferguson shared that her early experience involved a house that was “freezing cold. ” She framed the beginning not as a formal welcome, but as a kind of threshold: “The inauguration — the start was stepping on. ”

In Ferguson’s recollection, barry keoghan’s first major moment came in what she called “the pigsty scene. ” She noted: “I know [Keoghan] had the pigsty scene first. ” The detail, delivered casually, hints at how quickly the job can go from anticipation to the raw logistics of performance—whatever a “pigsty scene” demanded from him on day one, it was memorable enough to become shorthand between co-stars.

Why did working with Cillian Murphy matter to them?

In projects built on an existing legacy, the tone set by the lead can shape everything—especially for new cast members. Ferguson and barry keoghan both praised working with series lead Cillian Murphy, emphasizing his professionalism.

The way they described him didn’t lean on grand statements or mythology; it focused on craft and conduct, the qualities that make a set workable when the pressure is high and expectations are louder than usual.

For barry keoghan, who is playing Duke Shelby, Tommy Shelby’s son, sharing scenes or space with the series lead is also a particular kind of responsibility: it means inheriting part of a story that viewers already feel they own. The professionalism they highlighted becomes, in that context, less of a compliment and more of a stabilizing force—something that can help newcomers find their footing.

When does “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” premiere, and what happens next?

“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” premieres March 6 in select cinemas and March 20 on Netflix, both in Eastern Time (ET).

For viewers, those dates mark a return. For the newcomers, they mark something else: the moment private set memories—cold rooms, long shoots, the anxiety of joining late, and an oddly consequential Father’s Day text—become public property.

Back in the place where “the start was stepping on, ” the joke about initiation lands differently. It isn’t only about discomfort or endurance; it’s about entry. barry keoghan arrived with nerves and a decision to be “deliberate and bold, ” and now the work will be measured scene by scene, by an audience that Ferguson knows can be overwhelming. The question that lingers is simple: when the lights go down and the film begins, will that first step feel like belonging—or like a test that never quite ends?