In Thomas Shelby will face off against Jack Nelson and Oswald Mosley in the Peaky Blinders movie.
When Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) meets with Michael Gray (Finn Cole) in Peaky Blinders, it is to negotiate a business deal with Michael’s new associates. One of Michael’s men says they will have to take the proposal to “Uncle Jack in Boston.” Tommy identifies this man as Jack Nelson, Gina Gray’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) uncle and a figure with a sketchy past. Throughout the season, it's made unclear with whom exactly Jack Nelson aligns himself. He has close dealings with fascists, President Roosevelt, and the mafia. He wants the Shelby family's help with a new opium deal, while simultaneously wanting Arthur killed. The Peaky Blinders finale leaves Jack Nelson's story completely up in the air, intentionally setting up the movie.
Throughout its run, Peaky Blinders has had a somewhat tenuous connection with history. While characters and events are often based on true stories, Peaky Blinders tends to take things in their own direction. For example, season 5's Oswald Mosely was a real political figure who was altered in some ways to fit the TV show’s narrative. The most notable occurrence of this is with the Peaky Blinders themselves. While the Peaky Blinders might not exist as a group in season 6, the real street gang had lost most of their power by 1910, before Peaky Blinders season 1, and by the 1920s, Billy Kimber’s gang had far sured them. Jack Nelson is inspired by a real person, but the true story behind the character is heavily fictionalized.
Who Plays Peaky Blinders' Jack Nelson?
Jack Nelson first appears in Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 2, "Black Shirt." He meets with Tommy at a church to discuss Tommy's plans with an opium business. In season 6, Jack Nelson is portrayed by the actor James Frecheville. James Frecheville was born in 1991, meaning that he is 15 years younger than Cillian Murphy. This helps to set up Jack Nelson as part of the new world in which Tommy Shelby no longer can find a place, also coupled with the fact that Jack is a huge Nazi sympathizer and part of the fascist organization that Tommy wants to bring down in England. James Frecheville is best known for his roles as Jamie Sullivan in The Dry and Feeney in Black ’47.
Who Is Peaky Blinders Newcomer Jack Nelson Based On?
When working out who based on a gangster, it is a politician: Peaky Blinders Jack Nelson is based on Joseph Kennedy Sr., the father of JFK.
While historians have refuted the claims, criminals such as Frank Costello insisted that they worked with Joseph Kennedy on bootlegging operations and that this is where he made his initial fortune. By basing Jack Nelson on Joseph Kennedy, Peaky Blinders appears to either be using this version of Kennedy Sr.’s history or melding him with the Wallace brothers for the sake of the narrative. After becoming a bank president at a very early age, Kennedy began to generate huge profits in real estate. During World War One he worked on the production of transports and warships, which led to him being introduced to the future president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later in life, Kennedy became particularly close with Roosevelt, was appointed as Chairman of the U.S. Maritime Commission, and was the ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 until 1940.
While Joseph Kennedy was never convicted of any crimes, there are implications that he was involved in illegal and immoral dealings. This would all match up to the clean image that Gina implies Jack Nelson is attempting to cultivate. During the 1920s, Kennedy made a considerable amount of money on Wall Street using tactics that would later be made illegal, including insider trading, but mostly avoided the repercussions of the 1929 Wall Street crash. At the same time, he began investing in movies, production studios, and theaters. One man, Alexander Pantages, refused to sell his 63 theaters to Kennedy and was later charged and tried for rape. While he claimed that Kennedy had set him up, Pantages’ public image was damaged, and he had to accept a smaller offer from Kennedy for his theaters. The woman who had initially accused Pantages of rape claimed on her deathbed that Kennedy had indeed been behind the scheme to frame Pantages. Using all of this history about Joseph Kennedy helped Peaky Blinders to create a criminal in the form of Jack Nelson, who commits white-collar crimes and pursues unethical business deals as a contrast to previous antagonists, who have been more inclined to get their hands dirty.
Jack Nelson Ties Season 6 Closer To Tommy’s Fight Against Fascism
The fact that Peaky Blinders season 6's Jack Nelson is based on Joseph Kennedy Sr. helped elevate the scope of the series, moving the threats to a more global space. Nelson was set up to meet Oswald Mosley at the behest of Tommy. He linked the two up to better understand just how deep England's fascist ties went – and discover he did. As the series came to a close, Nelson's antisemitic sentiments became clearer, especially at the penultimate dinner party staged at Tommy's house. Essentially, Tommy is trying to see how he can overthrow the fascist party in England while undermining Oswald's efforts since his failed assassination attempt. It's also clear that the Nazi sympathizer Jack Nelson has his own plan for the Shelbys. He its to wanting to kill Arthur Shelby and confronts Billy with torture to become an informant before his death at the hands of Duke.
Peaky Blinders season 5 also saw the villain Jack Nelson embodies all of these views and actions, he makes for an antagonist who can bring together all of the ideological battles Thomas Shelby and his allies have fought throughout Peaky Blinders. Undoubtedly, his storyline will be officially resolved in the Peaky Blinders movie.
Why Jack Nelson Was Absent From The Peaky Blinders S6 Finale
There were plenty of antagonists that Tommy had to go up against in Peaky Blinders season 6, such as the IRA, Michael, and Gina — but Oswald Mosley and Jack Nelson were noticeably absent from the penultimate season finale. Nelson and Mosley will definitely face their final confrontation during the Peaky Blinders movie, but it seems odd with all the buildup over the course of the season that they couldn't make it into the finale. However, that doesn't mean that Jack Nelson and his gang didn't receive some blows from Tommy's end. He ends up offing Michael and Billy Grade, who were both working for Jack Nelson. As well, he located the doctor who gave him a false tuberculoma diagnosis under Mosley's orders. So, while this doesn't add a definitive end to their storylines, it does tie up some loose ends and sets up their narrative for the movie. After all, every movie needs a good villain, and Mosley and Jack Nelson provide that in spades.
While Jack Nelson and Mosley weren't involved in the series finale, they could have been around in other ways. For example, Jack Nelson could've been nearby (or at least heard about it) when Michael was shot, and the same goes for when the gang finds his informant, Billy Grade. Mosley was also linked to the episode when Tommy finds out about the false tuberculoma diagnosis. However, there's ultimately no explanation as to why they don't show up for the final episode of Peaky Blinders season 6. It's possible that show creators didn't feel it made for a good plot, or they're just trying to ratchet up the tension for the movie and build up the key antagonists through omission. The Peaky Blinders movie is set up to have Tommy battle against the Joseph Kennedy-inspired Jack Nelson.
