Peaky Blinders: What Happened To Helen McCrory's Polly Gray?
On April 16, 2021, the "Peaky Blinders" cast lost one of its most talented and beloved members. Helen McCrory died of breast cancer at the age of 52, leading to a period of mourning for family, friends, co-stars, and fans alike. McCrory became a fan favorite as Polly Gray, portraying the tough-as-nails matriarch of the Shelby family to perfection since the historical drama's first season. Therefore, rather than attempting to recast the part for the program's sixth and final season, the minds behind it elected to write Aunt Polly out of the narrative.
Ultimately, the "Peaky Blinders" team decided on killing Polly off-screen. Following her family's failed attempt to assassinate Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), the Irish Republican Army sees to it that Polly is killed. For unspecified reasons, they tell her nephew, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), that Mosley is needed alive, hence why they thwarted the assassination. Her body, along with those of Abermara Gold (Aidan Gillen) and Barney Thompson (Cosmo Jarvis), are dropped off at Tommy's house, where he then struggles to come to grips with her death.
Polly's death is incredibly emotional and an unfortunate response to a devastating real-life event. As it turns out, Polly wasn't originally going to leave the "Peaky Blinders" spotlight at the start of Season 6.
Polly was originally going to feature throughout Season 6
In June 2022, Tommy Shelby himself, Cillian Murphy, and "Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight discussed Helen McCrory's death and how it impacted the story of Polly Gray and Season 6 at large. According to the former, had it not been for the actor's death, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic halting production on the batch of episodes, McCrory's Polly would've appeared frequently throughout. "Helen would've been in the series if we had shot in 2020, so she's very much part of the series. Her influence is still in there, particularly for Tommy," he explained to Entertainment Weekly.
Once the call was made to write Polly off, then came the conversation of how to pull it off effectively and respectfully. "The idea that Polly's alive, but she's gone to America, or something wasn't right. We wanted to pay tribute to the character and hopefully the actor at the same time, so we wanted that to be part of the show," Knight explained to the publication. Seeing as the demise of McCrory's Polly goes on to completely change the complexion of Season 6, it's safe to say Knight and his crew did just that.
Despite her unexpected absence from Season 6, there's no denying the impact Helen McCrory and her performances as Polly Gray had on "Peaky Blinders." Without her, the series simply wouldn't be the same.