Peaky Blinders creator thought Game of Thrones was a kids show before hiring Aidan Gillen

Peaky Blinders, despite its kind of cutesy name, is a pretty brutal crime drama about English gangs in the wake of World War I. It turned creator Steven Knight (who before this was one of the co-creators behind Who Wants To Be A Millionaire) into a celebrated screenwriter; he's now one of the many writers with a Star Wars movie in development, along with an upcoming Peaky Blinders movie set during World War II.

Among Peaky Blinders' many cast members was Aidan Gillen, whom Game of Thrones fans will remember as Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the scheming master of coin. Gillen played ruthless hitman Aberama Gold starting in the fourth season, which aired in 2017. Speaking recently at the Royal Television Society conference in London, Knight confessed that before hiring Gillen, he thought Game of Thrones was a show intended for children; his young son was obsessed with it, after all, and Knight made assumptions after seeing it involved dragons. Knight had a rather rude awakening when someone told him that Gillen played a brothel keeper. “What are you talking about? It’s a kid’s show!”

Before this, Knight had happily bought his son the Game of Thrones DVD boxset for Christmas. I wonder if there was a discussion afterwards.

Game of Thrones was so huge for so many years it's hard to imagine that someone like Knight, who's working in TV, could be ignorant of the content. And by the time Gillen was hired, Game of Thrones was already in the back half of its life, so the Red Wedding had happened and set the internet on fire. But I guess running your own crime drama keeps you busy.

As for the Peaky Blinders movie, it will also feature the likes of Cillian Murphy (returning as main character Tommy Shelby), Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan. We don't have a firm release date yet, but Knight has assured fans that it will be "mindblowing" and "really good."

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h/t Variety