The great English actress Helen McCrory tragically passed away last year at the age of 52. McCrory was beloved by film fans for her work in The Queen, Hugo, and the Harry Potter franchise, but she landed one of the best roles of her career on the BBC period crime series Peaky Blinders. McCrory’s character, Polly Gray, is the domineering aunt of the show’s lead, Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy). Amidst the Shelby family’s bickering and brawling, Polly often emerges as the voice of reason. That didn’t mean that she was any less ruthless.

McCrory’s tragic death presented showrunner Steven Knight with a narrative challenge. Polly was originally set to play a major part in the show’s final season. Season 5 had left the characters in a vulnerable position; having failed to assassinate the British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), Tommy is forced to make a few unusual alliances. Tommy reluctantly makes an arrangement with the Jewish gangster Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy), his former rival. He also has to maintain his public relationship with the Nazi movement. This draws the ire of his siblings, Arthur (Paul Anderson) and Ada (Sophie Rundle), as well as Polly herself.

It was clear that Polly was one of the most influential characters in the series, and she was set up to have an intriguing subplot in the final story arc. Polly’s son, Michael (Finn Cole), has broken from the family, and plans to kill Tommy. Although Knight considered explaining Polly’s absence by having the character go on an off-screen adventure in America, he realized that it “wouldn’t feel right” for Polly to not factor into the show’s conclusion. He decided to kill off McCroy’s character. Her death is revealed within the opening moments of the season six premiere episode “Black Day.”

This was a bold narrative choice. If it was handled improperly, it could feel disrespectful and dismissive of McCrory’s memory. However, the final season gracefully incorporated the real tragedy by allowing the characters to reflect on Polly’s impact. This serves as a great way to look back at how integral Polly was to the show, and gave the actors a chance to mourn their friend with their performances. Polly’s influence is even more clear when she’s no longer there to guide her family’s decisions.

The season opens with a funeral sequence, where the Shelbys gather to mourn Polly. It’s clearly an emotional moment, and the heartfelt performances from Murphy, Anderson, and Rundle indicate that there’s nothing insincere about the sadness that they are showing. However, the sequence itself isn’t a random moment that feels hastily added to a completely different story. Polly’s death only deepens Michael’s resolve to take Tommy down. Tommy had received word that after the failed attempt on Mosley’s life, several members of the Shelby gang were executed by the I.R.A., including Polly. Michael is outraged that Tommy failed to protect his mother.

Throughout the previous five seasons of the show, we have been introduced to a very calculated and violent Thomas Michael Shelby (Cillian Murphy). His ingenuity and ruthlessness in that period and help from family members, in particular his aunt, Polly Gray (Helen McCrory), has helped the Peaky Blinders rise from just another gang in Small Heath to the dominant force both there and with business holdings across the Atlantic. Mr. Shelby himself works his way up the social and political ladder to the House of Commons, where he becomes an MP.

Season 5 wrapped up with his conflict with Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) coming to a head. Shelby ordered an assassination, which eventually fails after he is betrayed by someone unknown. Tommy Shelby is many things, and he adapts himself to whatever the situation might require. He could be both the devil and a savior, it all just depends on what is required.

In Season 6, what was required of him was simple: beat the Gypsy curse. He spends a good part of the season doing exactly that. Shelby is a gypsy and believes in the curses. He is certain he has been cursed due to events earlier on in the series, and losing his wife, Grace (Annabelle Wallis), reinforces that belief. To escape his demons and in honor of his aunt Polly at her death, he forswears alcohol. Whatever control over the curse he thought he had soon evaporates with the death of his daughter, Ruby (Heaven-Leigh Clee). At her funeral, he declares, “But in her name and in her memory things will change.” But they do not change significantly enough as he goes off to enact his revenge on the lady he believes laid the curse that took his daughter.

For a man who believes he is cursed, things do not get any easier for Tommy Shelby. He is informed by Doctor Holford (Aneurin Barnard) that he has tuberculoma and has at best, a year and a half to live. He is certain now that his death is imminent. For a man who has never been scared of dying since he returned from France in World War I, he sets about putting his legacy in order. Rather than live with this fate hanging over his head, Tommy decides to end it himself. However, he discovers that he is in fact not dying, and he had been lied to by the good doctor at the behest of Mr. Mosley.

In typical Tommy fashion, he confronts the doctor with the intent of killing him. After a conversation that unmasks who he had become over time, Tommy lets the doctor go and rides off into his new future, free of all the ties that have held him bound for long. He has broken the curse.

Having silenced his demons, Tommy is free from the threats in his head but those that breathe still remain with the likes of Boston gangsters Jack Nelson (James Frecheville) and Gina Gray (Anya Taylor-Joy), who would definitely seek vengeance for the death of Michael Gray (Finn Cole). There is also still the threat of Mosley, and with his growing power and influence, a lot more people could get hurt, aside from Tommy.

A feature film has been planned but for now, the saga ends.

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The final adventures of Peaky Blinders is coming to Netflix this week. The show has left an undeniable mark on fans and critics over the past decade. Created by Steven Knight, the series follows a WWI veteran Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy), and his street gang as they take on numerous criminal organizations, business adversaries, foreign insurgents, and the British Establishment itself.

As the series comes to an end there have been conversations about a possible movie, and Cillian Murphy recently told Deadline, “I’d be as excited as anybody to read a script. But I think it’s good for everyone to have a little break. That’s always a healthy thing and then we can regroup. Steve is an insanely busy and in-demand writer, but I know that he loves writing Peaky above all. He adores it. So I think when the time comes, if there’s more story to be told, I’ll be there.”

Murphy has spent about a decade in the tortured character’s skin while sharing the screen with many amazing characters and actors. He sums up his experience, “I think I encountered some of the greatest writing I’ve ever encountered on that show for sure; some of the greatest actors I’ve ever encountered. I never thought I’d get to play a character that would last a decade and be able to go so deep and have such rich material.”

Over the course of six seasons, the show gripped the audience and kept them wanting more. The show has had an amazing set of directors and musicians narrating the story in the best way possible. “When you look back on it, it is quite humbling. It doesn’t feel like I’ve had enough perspective on it, but I do feel just really, really grateful to play that character and to bring Steve’s writing to life,” Murphy explained.

Nonetheless, along with working on Peaky Blinders, the actor has also made at least three feature films every year. Murphy who recently finished shooting Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer finds it fortunate to be able to do both. “The good thing about it was, [unlike] the American shows where they just own you, all of us actors got to go and do other interesting work in between which I think was essential. I got to go off and do crazy plays and other films. I think if it had taken away that ability to go and do other work I might not feel so grateful, but I feel tremendously grateful,” he added.

Murphy will be next seen in Oppenheimer as the titular character however, for now, he’s enjoying his break, he jokes, “at the moment I am 100% unemployed and happy with that.”

Peaky Blinders Season 6 is streaming now on Netflix.