He was one of the figures of the Shelby family but he is no longer present in the series Peaky Blinders since season 4. Joe Cole alias John Shelby explains why he left the British show.
Peaky Blinders is back in France with the arrival on Netflix of the sixth and final season. Fans will have the pleasure of finding several mythical characters, but some are missing. If Aunt Polly is missing, due to the tragic death of her interpreter Helen McCrory, the Shelby family has also lost another member along the way, namely John Shelby.
And his interpreter Joe Cole recently explained to Subway why he left the series in season 4. He did not want to be locked into his role of John Shelby and wanted to open up to other horizons which would allow him to have a more substantial role in a production.
BBC
Since his departure from Peaky Blinders, the actor is indeed the lead of the series Gangs of London :
“I’ve spent the past few years turning down gang-related productions because there are so many. In fact, I chose to leave Peaky Blinders because I wanted to explore new avenues, new characters, and new stories. With this role [celui de John Shelby]I never went off the beaten track. Peaky Blinders, it’s really Cillian Murphy’s series.
[Gangs of London] is a more choral series that really digs its characters. So it was an opportunity for me to show what I can do, as well as the rest of the cast.”
As a reminder, his character John Shelby, who was important in the family, was killed in season 4 by the Changretta family, led by Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody). Since his departure, Joe Cole seems to flourish within the Gangs of London team.