Just as Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have filled in the backstory ofBreaking Badwiththe spin-off seriesBetter Call Saul, David Chase is set to explore the backstory of his own groundbreaking TV drama,The Sopranos, with a prequel movie calledThe Many Saints of Newark. The movie will primarily revolve around Dickie Moltisanti, the father of Christopher Moltisanti, but it will also feature a young Tony Soprano played by Michael Gandolfini, the real-life son of James Gandolfini, who made the role iconic in the original series.
The younger Gandolfini has opened up about the pressures of taking on his late father’s most memorable role, as well asone of the most beloved TV characters ever created, during an interview with Vanity Fair. What gave Gandolfini the confidence to play Tony Soprano was Chase’s faith that he could pull it off: “I had this unspoken trust that David wasn’t going to cast me if there was even a shred that this isn’t going to work.” Set in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the movie will revolve around Newark’s 1967 riots and use them as a backdrop to explore tensions between the Italian-American and African-American communities.
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Chase has assembled a star-studded cast to appear alongside Gandolfini as younger versions oficonicSopranoscharacters, including Jon Bernthal as the father of Tony Soprano, “Johnny Boy” Soprano, Corey Stoll as a young Junior Soprano, Vera Farmiga as a young Livia Soprano, and Billy Magnussen as a young Paulie “Walnuts.” The movie will be directed by Alan Taylor, who helmed several episodes ofThe Sopranos(as well as episodes of such popular dramas asMad MenandGame of Thrones) and the moviesThor: The Dark WorldandTerminator Genisys.
Gandolfini’s casting is reminiscent of O’Shea Jackson, Jr. playing his father Ice Cube inStraight Outta Compton, but he wasn’t offered the part of Tony Soprano outright – he had to audition for Chase like everybody else. When he first heard about the project, he thought, “Absolutely not. What if I’m not good?” But his manager convinced him to try out for it, which led to him watchinghis father’s acclaimed work inThe Sopranosfor the first time. He explained, “It was really hard to watch my dad. I recorded four hours of his monologues with Melfi and walked around New York with them constantly, constantly, constantly playing in my ear.”
Originally, Warner Bros. planned to releaseThe Many Saints of Newarkon Jun 14, 2025, but thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the studio pushed it back by almost a full year to September 2021, when it will hit theaters and HBO Max simultaneously. This is par for the course withWarner Bros.’ mid-COVID release strategy. After the surprising success ofWonder Woman 1984, this is what Warner Bros. is doing with most of its 2021 releases, much to the chagrin of a lot of filmmakers who weren’t informed about this plan until they read about it in the news.
The Many Saints of Newarkwill be released in theaters and on HBO Max on July 17, 2025.
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