I believe Freddie Thorne was an intriguing Peaky Blinders character (but he died too soon)

Israeli actor Iddo Goldberg had a small run on the BBC crime drama series, Peaky Blinders, as Freddie Thorne, but I believe his character had great potential and often drew interesting parallels to Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby.

Introduced in Season 1, Freddie was a fellow soldier who served alongside Tommy and Arthur in World War I, but his life took a different path after he returned from France. After much hardship and resistance, he married Tommy's sister Ada and had a son with her, but was shown dead in Season 2.

While Goldberg did not comment on his character's sudden exit, it was likely that he left the show to co-star in Salem in 2012.

More on Freddie Thorne in Peaky Blinders in our story.

I think Freddie and Tommy's clashing ideologies enhanced Peaky Blinders Season 1

Freddie Thorne started as an interesting parallel character to Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders Season 1, who even dared to go against him and the gang to every possible extent.

While nobody dared see the Shelby sister Ada, Freddie fearlessly loved her and even met her in secret under the bridge throughout Season 1.

While he was Tommy's childhood friend and the two shared camaraderie throughout their lives, WW1 changed their views of the world and they both set out on their separate paths. The war and its different outcomes had such drastic effects on the once best friends that Tommy and Freddie did not see eye to eye after the war.

Tommy became a stoic gang leader, increasingly hungry for power and with limitless ambition. He adopted a nihilistic approach toward the world after the war. His ideology was in stark contrast with Freddie, who was a communist and was trying to pursue the idea of creating a utopia by voicing concerns of the factory workers.

This difference in ideologies among Freddie and Tommy in Peaky Blinders had great potential, and I would have liked seeing Tommy grow with Freddie and Ada over the years. While he did not accept their marriage, he was starting to look past it, which would have added an interesting layer to Tommy's character.

Freddie Thorne dared to go against Tommy and the gang in Peaky Blinders Season 1

While not even his brother Arthur dared go against Tommy in Peaky Blinders, Freddie was fearless against Tommy. Not only did he continue to meet Ada under the bridge secretly, but when Aunt Polly offered the couple money to move to London and start a new life, he denied.

He declares that he is not afraid of Tommy and will continue to live in Small Heath with his sister Ada. The two were married and Ada even gave birth to their son Karl. However, when Freddie came to see his family in secret, he was ambushed by the coppers and arrested.

While Tommy and Freddie did not clear the air between them, the Peaky Blinders leader staged a prison break with Danna Whiz Bang and rescued Freddie, who later sided with him at the confrontation with Billy Kimber in the Season 1 finale.

Freddie Thorne had great potential as a character and might have joined the Shelby company in subsequent seasons. However, his character arc was cut short and he was shown dead in Season 2, likely from the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918–1920.

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