It’s taken seemingly forever and a day to arrive, but at long last we finally have our first proper look at The Many Saints of Newark, the hotly anticipated sequel movie to the ever-beloved and iconic HBO series The Sopranos. And boy oh boy, if you happened to enjoy that particular televisual programme, you’re probably gonna need to take a lap after watching this.
Sopranos creator David Chase has long had the prequel movie in the works, but several factors (including, y’know, the pandemic) pushed the film’s initial release date of September 2020 back by around 13 months.
While the original series was set in the “present” day of the early 2000s, the prequel film takes place in 60s and 70s in and around Newark, New Jersey, using the real-life 1967 race riots as a backdrop.
Centring on a young Tony Soprano, played by Michael Gandolfini stepping into the role made famous by his late father James Gandolfini, and the extended Sopranos universe, the trailer gives us glimpses of key players in the whole saga, including Dickie Moltisanti (young Tony’s mentor and father of modern series mainstay Christopher Moltisanti) as well as young versions of character favourites like Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante. There’s also a hint of the phenomenally cast Vera Farmiga as Tony’s caustic and controlling mother Livia Soprano.
The extended cast features the likes of Billy Magnussen, Jon Bernthal, Leslie Odom Jr, and Ray Liotta.
Seriously, just wrap your eyes around this, would ya? Holy shit.
How’s the young Gandolfini’s turn as Tony there? The short temper, the piercing glare, my lord.
The Many Saints of Newark is now scheduled to hit cinemas come September 23 here in Australia.
The only right and just thing now is for a sequel film to be put together. Only it’s just one static shot of Paulie Walnuts sunning himself outside of Satriale’s and it runs for three hours. You know it makes sense.
