A Sopranos Prequel Movie Written By David Chase Is Officially In The Works

Deadline- David Chase is finally ready to return to the New Jersey turf of his iconic creation The Sopranos. New Line has purchased the screenplay The Many Saints of Newark, the working title for a feature prequel of The Sopranos that is set in the era of the Newark riots in the 60s. That was a time when the African-Americans and the Italians of Newark were at each other’s throats, and amongst the gangsters of each group, those conflicts became especially lethal. The script was written by Chase and Lawrence Konner, the prolific screen and television writer whose credits include The Sopranos.

Some of the beloved characters from the series will appear in the film. I couldn’t get any more information about the plot, but the time period indicates there will be room for Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni “Johnny Boy,” the former captain of the Soprano crew (played in flashbacks by Joseph Siravo), and a younger version of his wife Livia (played indelibly in the show’s first season by Nancy Marchand), and Tony’s uncle Junior, played by Chianese. Chase will serve as producer as well as co-writer, and he will be involved in selecting a director.

I woke up this morning and got myself a motherfucking Sopranos prequel! Or at least news that one is officially on the way. I blogged about how there were whispers about a Sopranos prequel TV show being a possibility a couple of months ago, but I honestly didn’t think it would actually happen. But instead it sounds like we are getting a movie of Johnny Boy Soprano’s rise to power in what almost sounds like a Sopranos movie set during the time of A Bronx Tale. As someone that loves both of those projects with all my heart, I am clearly excited.

Obviously nobody wants the movie to suck and reboots/prequels/remakes seems to be the main export out of Hollywood these days. But I always loved when they dabbled in the flashbacks of The Sopranos to see how Tony’s two families grew and evolved. I mean I said this is exactly what I wrote in that blog from June.

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I am going to try to imagine a Sopranos prequel with Johnny Boy Soprano (Tony’s dad) running around getting into shit with Uncle June. Christopher’s dad would obviously be a character as well as Carmine and the goomah Johnny dated that also banged JFK. You would also have a young Tony, Big Puss, the Apriles, Johnny Sack and my boy Bobby Bacala trying to earn their stripes while misquoting lines, Tony’s mom being a superbitch, Janet being a superbitch in training, a young Carmela courting Tony, all the Artie-Charmaine drama, and God knows what kind of shit a young Paulie Walnuts could get into.

Give me all that stuff wrapped neatly in a 2 hour package, throw some great Motown music as the soundtrack, and call it a blockbuster. Yeah James Ganddalfini WAS The Sopranos, but you gotta give David Chase a chance to keep the franchise running without the GOAT TV character just like if Tom Brady retired but Bill Belichick wanted to keep on coaching.

Chase being limited to the time frame of a movie instead of a season worth of TV means any long, crazy, vague dream or coma sequences would probably be cut out too, which most Sopranos fans will love. Lets go back to the pacing of Season 1 and 2 where shit popped off all the time. No getting lost in the sauce for episodes at a time. Just straight Sopranos heat uncut to the gut like a demented Uncle June once lit up Tony with. If this hits, it becomes a potential roadmap for some of our other favorite shows to either go with a prequel or a sequel years in the future after the finale wrapped. The Sopranos ushered in this new golden age of TV, so it would be fitting if they then took it to the big screen.

Now hit the motherfucking music!!!