Of course, the HBO series, which ran from 1999 to 2007, had a famously controversial ending. (Spoilers ahead). The show followed a mob boss seeking therapy for the stress of his family life and “family business.” In the final scene, the screen abruptly cut to black, leaving it unclear whether panic-attack-prone Mafia boss Tony Soprano (Gandolfini) would survive a possible assassination attempt while eating at a diner with his family.
Then, in 2013, Gandolfini passed away suddenly at 51, ending any hope of him reprising his beloved role.
However, with belated sequels being all the rage, there could be a few different paths to revisiting series creator David Chase’s brilliant set of characters. Chase himself did it with a prequel film, 2021’s The Many Saints of Newark. Needless to say, this leads us to one of the more straightforward paths to a continuation of The Sopranos…
As a Sopranos fan, it’s hard not to feel like The Many Saints of Newark was a backdoor pilot for a new series. The plot follows a violent gang war from the perspectives of mobster Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) and his teenage nephew, Tony Soprano, amid the city’s 1967 riots. Michael Gandolfini steps into the role his father made famous, playing the young Tony.
The film had a stacked supporting cast, including Vera Farmiga as Tony’s overbearing mother, Livia (and the root of many of his emotional issues). It seemed destined to set up a new series exploring Tony’s origins, leading up to the original show. Now that Michael Gandolfini has proven he has some serious chops with a supporting role in the recent Daredevil: Born Again, this seems like a natural path for a continuation.
That said, there’s also the direct (albeit belated) direct sequel route. Tony’s beleaguered wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), was a fan favorite played by one of the best actresses around. Assuming Tony was killed in the series finale (or simply died a bit later by other means), how would Carmela pick up the pieces and soldier on? Would she morph into something like Livia, pushing her son A.J. into the family business in an effort to stay on top? Seems unlikely…
Maybe she’d go the opposite route, writing a tell-all, Mafia Widow, that becomes a bestseller. The series would follow Carmela as she oversees an HBO TV adaptation of her book. Plot twist: she falls for the man cast as Tony for the show within a show…
Okay. let’s go full-tilt, high-concept. The opening of The Many Saints of Newark has (spoiler) Tony’s nephew, Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), setting up the story, narrating from beyond the grave.
Why not take this a step further?
There’s the potential for a ghost Christopher narrating his own story (starting from his teen years), mixed in with his spirit navigating the afterlife of a sinner. Think Better Call Saul meets The Good Place.
This way, we get the best of both worlds: a prequel series exploring the Mafia family in their younger days, and a sequel showing what the survivors are up to at the turn of the 21st century, with Christopher trying to find some sort of path to redemption in the afterlife.
Still, James Gandolfini held so much of the magic that made The Sopranos work. Maybe it’s best to just leave it alone…