'The Many Saints of Newark' Trailer Introduces a Young Tony Soprano
Showing Tony coming of age under the tutelage of his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti.
More than two years since a first look surfaced, The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark has received its first trailer. The film arrives more than 14 years after the finale of the groundbreaking TV show, and features James Gandolfini’s son Michael take on the role that his father made famous as the young Tony Soprano.
As well as starring a young Tony Soprano, the film features younger versions of many other characters from the original series. In The Many Saints of Newark, Tony’s later allies Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri and Silvio Dante are played by Billy Magnussen and John Magaro respectively.
The film focuses on Tony’s relationship with his uncle Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) — father to Christopher — who heavily influences Tony and sets him on his path. The official synopsis, which was released alongside the trailer, explains that Soprano is “growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city.”
The synopsis also introduces Moltisanti, adding that Tony “idolizes” his uncle, “who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities—and whose influence over his nephew will help make the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.”
Speaking to Deadline back in 2019, David Chase, who created the original series and has produced the prequel, described his interest in looking at Tony’s youth during racial tensions and the 1967 Newark riots. “I was living in suburban New Jersey at the time that happened, and my girlfriend was working in downtown Newark,” Chase said in that interview. “I was just interested in the whole Newark riot thing. I started thinking about those events and organized crime, and I just got interested in mixing those two elements. It is going to depict when it was good,” Chase told Deadline. “The mafia was very polished at that time, how they dressed and what they did. Those traditions were followed more loosely in the series. These weren’t guys who wore tracksuits, back then.”
Take a look at The Many Saints of Newark trailer above, and expect the film to release in both the U.S. and U.K. in October 2021.
For more entertainment, here’s everything coming to and leaving Netflix next month.
