We now know who “Stranger Things” alum Charlie Heaton is playing in the new “Peaky Blinders” series — and yep, he’s got Shelby blood in him.
Heaton will play Tommy Shelby’s son Charles in the upcoming sequel series, Netflix has revealed, along with a first-look photo of Heaton in the role. (Check it out above.) Charles was the prized son of Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby and his late wife Grace, with a number of child actors playing Charles on the original “Peaky Blinders.” We learned in this year’s follow-up film “The Immortal Man” that Charles grew up to be a soldier in World War II, appearing at the end (played by Alfie Thomas Bland) to attend his father’s funeral.
The new “Peaky Blinders” series, which has already earned a two-season order at Netflix, picks up a decade after the war, with Jamie Bell starring as Tommy’s long-lost son Duke Shelby. (Barry Keoghan played Duke in “The Immortal Man.”) After returning from the battlefield, “Charles Shelby is now embracing normality,” per the official description. “He hasn’t seen his half-brother Duke in years. Charles severed all ties to the Peaky Blinders gang, and the hedonistic Shelby lifestyle. But can you ever escape your own blood?”
Along with Heaton and Bell, the new “Peaky Blinders” cast includes Jessica Brown Findlay (“Downton Abbey”), Lashana Lynch (“The Day of the Jackal”), and Lucy Karczewski in her TV debut. Original series creator Steven Knight returns as writer and creator.
In other casting news…
* Kerry Washington (“Scandal”) will star in and executive-produce the thriller “What Remains,” currently in development at Hulu, according to Deadline. Based on the novel by Wendy Walker, the series will see Washington play cold case specialist Elise Sutton, who gets caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a man whose life she saved.
* Ben Stiller will star in the Apple TV comedy “Protective Custody” from “Silicon Valley” co-creator Mike Judge, Variety reports. Stiller will play “a disgraced financier accused of massive fraud who is thrown into protective custody, where he must navigate prison politics, salvage his reputation, and confront the consequences of his actions while awaiting trial.”
* HBO’s “Task” has added three to its cast, per Deadline: Harry Melling (“The Queen’s Gambit”) as DEA agent Brennan Boylan, Adam Nagaitis (“The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon”) as DEA agent Luke Clemmons, and Aminah Nieves (“1923”) as FBI agent Nataly Zamora.
* Prime Video’s video game adaptation “Life Is Strange” has added four to its cast, according to Variety: Tom Cullen (“Downton Abbey”), Leisha Hailey (“The L Word”), Raúl Castillo (“Looking”), and Owen Teague (“Bloodline”).
* “Heels” alum Kelli Berglund has joined the cast of Hulu’s “Prison Break” reboot, Deadline reports, replacing Priscilla Delgado in a recast. She’ll be a series regular as female prison inmate Cheyenne.