Platinum Star Scan Member ID Profile & Payment Tickets Gift Card Sign In Sign Out Shopping Cart Shopping Cart Edit Close Calendar Movie Club Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Help Connections Rewards History Warning checkmark Event Series Event Series Location Plus Minus Movie Rewards Candy Popcorn Drink Hot Dog Pizza Ice Cream Restaurant Bar Popcorn Lock Private Delete Ticket Add to Watch List Added to Watch List Watch List Skip to Main Content
Image for 00 Many Saints Sopranos New Generation Hero.jpg

The Many Saints Of Newark: A New Generation Carries the Sopranos Torch

9/21/2021 • 4 min read

It’s been fourteen years since David Chase left America hanging on the final episode of "The Sopranos." And while we’ll never know for sure what happened to Tony and his family after the screen abruptly turned to black and ended the series, Chase has returned to embellish his franchise with a prequel: THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK.

Being a prequel, this isn’t going to be exactly "The Sopranos" you remember. The violence will be there, the amazing needle drops are almost certain to be there, and even most of the characters you love will be there. It’s just that they’ll look different, given that they’re much younger in the story, and now played by different actors.

Image for 01 Dickie in Many Saints 1250.jpg

Tony and His Original Mentor

Obviously, that all begins with Tony Soprano himself. Even if James Gandolfini were alive, no one would expect him to show up as a teenager, funny as that might be. But in a rare occurrence, the young Tony Soprano is played by the late actor's actual son, Michael Gandolfini. And he looks just like his father. Maybe he breathes just like his father too, we’ll see.

But the "Sopranos" characters and references go much deeper than that. Even Christopher shows up as a baby and, curiously, as a narrator. But this isn't really a movie about Tony; it's about Christopher's father, Dickie Motisanti. (His last name means "many saints," hence the movie's title.) As a focal character, Dickie, played by Alessandro Nivola (FACE/OFF), is very different from Tony Soprano — he's more polished and controlled — but the characters face some very similar challenges and pitfalls. And as THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK moves through the late '60s and early '70s, Dickie's influence on young Tony has a big effect on the future mob boss's nature.

Image for 03 Many Saints Cast 1250.jpg

A Killer Cast

To help orient you to this early vision of the "Sopranos" world, let’s start with Junior Soprano, who was elderly but not quite feeble in the original series. Junior is still one of the older characters in MANY SAINTS. He’s played by Corey Stoll, with Junior’s glasses and with Junior’s lack of hair. Viewers are most likely to remember Stoll as the villain in Marvel’s ANT-MAN.

If you’re going to have Tony’s Uncle Junior on hand, it's essential to have his mom, Livia, too. She's now played by THE CONJURING’s Vera Farmiga, who not only resembles Livia from the show but weirdly also resembles Edie Falco as Tony's wife Carmelo Soprano. If Tony’s therapist Jennifer Melfi were not still a child, the film might take a moment to look into that knot of coincidences a bit further.

Of course, Tony will eventually be nothing without his crew, and they’re all here in their younger forms. John Magaro ("Orange Is the New Black) plays Silvio Dante. The part of Salvatore Bonpensiero is played by relative newcomer Samson Moeakiola. And Billy Magnussen, soon to be seen in the James Bond film NO TIME TO DIE, plays the young version of Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri.

Image for 02 Jon Bernthal in Many Saints of Newark 1250.jpg

Characters Old and New

In addition to all these unfamiliar versions of familiar faces, the movie also features Jon Bernthal (THE PUNISHER) as Johnny Boy Soprano, Leslie Odom Jr. (HAMILTON) as Harold, whose friendship with Dickie is ultimately the backbone of the movie, and Ray Liotta (GOODFELLAS) as Aldo, father to Dickie. The complicated family relationship between the older and younger Motisantis is just as significant as some of the relationships were in "The Sopranos."

It’s going to be hard for anyone to recapture that lightning in a bottle "Sopranos" magic, but it’s not impossible. And with creator David Chase back as writer and frequent "Sopranos" director Alan Taylor calling the shots for a cast this strong, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK is set to extend and deepen the legacy of the deeply respected series.

 

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK hits theaters on October 1!

 

All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Get email updates about movies, rewards and more! Subscribe to our emails Subscribe to our emails