After years of speculation and demand from fans and HBO alike following that finale, producer David Chase finally looks set to revive The Sopranos more than a decade since it left our screens.
Chronicling the rise and fall of a New Jersey crime syndicate, the show catapulted its stars into the mainstream and is widely regarded as the tipping point for TV ’s so-called golden age. With that in mind, it may come as a surprise that Chase is apparently looking not to the future, but to the past.
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Ditching the turn of the millennium setting for the 1960s, the tentatively titled prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark will supposedly centre around the summer of ’67, specifically the period of social unrest that arose as a result of the redlining of black citizens, culminating in the Newark Riots. Violence erupted throughout the city, and nowhere was this more prevalent than between the African-American and Italian-American crime families.
Though we’ve already seen young versions of Tony’s father Giovanni and uncle Junior via flashback, exploring this time period further will provide fans with a deeper understanding of how the DiMeo family got to where they were at the start of season one.
If recent appraisals of Chase’s ability to capture lightning in a bottle from series stalwarts Steve Buscemi and Edie Falco are anything to go by, we could be in for a treat. “(He’s) one of the best storytellers and directors there is,” enthused Falco, a sentiment echoed by Buscemi when asked for his thoughts on the decision to revive the series. “It’s think it’s great. There’s still a lot of material to be mined in these characters. I’m excited about it”.
What would you like to see from the Sopranos prequel? Let us know @LWLies
