House of the Dragon isn't the only eagerly awaited prequel headed to HBO Max. The Sopranos – long hailed as one of the greatest television series ever made – is finally getting a prequel movie in The Many Saints of Newark. This film will showcase a young Tony Soprano and finally introduce the man who shaped him like none other – Dickie Moltisanti.
Even though The Many Saints of Newark is a prequel set three decades before the events of The Sopranos, it's best to go into the film with a clear knowledge of the characters and their relationships. Whether you've never seen The Sopranos or just haven't had a chance to rewatch the show lately, here's a breakdown of all the relevant plot points and the real-world history you should know.
Note: We've tried to avoid them where possible, but beware of some spoilers for The Sopranos ahead!
Meeting Dickie Moltisanti
It's safe to say Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti is the most important Sopranos character who never actually appears in the series (aside from in a photograph). Dickie is dead by the time of the show, but he's alluded to by main character Tony Soprano and others various times over the course of those six seasons.
The show makes it clear Tony had immense respect for Dickie, a man he viewed as a mentor, role model and father figure (possibly even eclipsing Tony's actual father, Giovanni/Johnny Boy). It's only thanks to "Uncle" Dickie's guidance that Tony worked his way up the ranks of the New Jersey mob. And that feeds directly into one of the show's most important relationships – that of Tony and Dickie's son Christopher. Tony takes it upon himself to mentor his "nephew" in the same way Dickie once did him. Unfortunately, if the show taught us anything, it's that Tony isn't an ideal father, and that Christopher's own demons probably doomed him from the start.
More than simply being an origin story for Tony Soprano, The Many Saints of Newark is really an opportunity for fans to finally meet Dickie Moltisanti (played by Alessandro Nivola) and understand the profound influence he had on Tony. This is Dickie's story as much as, if not more than, Tony's. We'll also be introduced to another member of the Moltisanti clan, Salvatore "Sally" Moltisanti, played by gangster movie icon Ray Liotta.
The Gandolfini Family Legacy
The Sopranos infamously ended on a cliffhanger, leaving many fans to hope for a sequel that would more clearly reveal the final fate of James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano. But whether or not creator David Chase ever entertained the prospect of a follow-up, Gandolfini's untimely death in 2013 rendered a direct sequel very unlikely.
Given the acclaim surrounding the TV series in general and Gandolfini's performance in particular, finding someone new to take over the Tony role is a tall order. It's fitting that Chase and director Alan Taylor found the solution in Gandolfini's son, Michael. Who better to channel such an iconic performance and paint a convincing portrait of a much younger Tony?
The Many Saints of Newark is set in 1967, when Tony is roughly the same age his son Anthony Jr. is in the TV series. At this point, Tony is still just a high school student with big dreams. He's a troubled figure who seems determined to squander his academic potential in favor of forming his own gang and following in his father's footsteps.
One of the many tragedies in The Sopranos is that we occasionally get a sense of the man Tony might have been had he grown up under different circumstances. He's clearly highly intelligent and capable, yet his sensitive side has been repressed to the point where he suffers regular panic attacks and can only show empathy for innocent animals (hence why Tony spends the majority of the series in therapy). The movie should give us a much better idea of what Tony was like before he permanently wandered down the wrong path.
Other Returning Sopranos Characters
Dickie Moltisanti and young Tony Soprano may be the focal points of The Many Saints of Newark, but fans of the TV series can expect a who's who lineup of familiar characters, even if none of them are played by the original actors.
The rest of the Soprano family will appear, with Jon Bernthal playing Giovanni "Johnny Boy" Soprano, Corey Stoll playing Corrado "Junior" Soprano and Vera Farmiga playing Tony's brutally unaffectionate mother, Livia. In a series rife with murderers, drug dealers and other criminals, Livia Soprano might just be its most twisted villain. The movie offers another chance to see just how much her brand of parenting warped Tony into the man he becomes.
Also expect most of Tony's familiar underlings to appear in younger form, including Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Billy Magnussen), Silvio Dante (John Magaro) and Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola). At this point, the characters are obviously younger, but expect plenty of foreshadowing for the next great New Jersey crime family.
Even Christopher Moltisanti will appear in the film, albeit as an infant. The trailer confirms as much, with one scene showing baby Christopher sobbing uncontrollably upon meeting Tony, while another family member suggests newborns carry knowledge of their own future into the world. As much as The Many Saints of Newark is designed to be an accessible, standalone movie, it's clear from scenes like this that the film is really best appreciated with an understanding of what the future holds for these characters.
The Newark Riots of 1967
The Sopranos mostly features a cast of fictional characters, with the various real-world New Jersey and New York crime families replaced by Chase's own creations. But while the gangsters in The Many Saints of Newark are fictional, much of the conflict fueling the movie is based on real history.
The late '60s marked a boiling point for racial tensions in America. The summer of 1967 is often referred to as "The Long Hot Summer," as a number of major American cities experienced violent riots and clashes between police and those protesting against racial and economic inequality.
By 1967, Newark had become one of the first urban areas in the US with a majority African American population, despite still having mostly white politicians controlling the local government. That fueled a powder keg that finally exploded in July 1967, with the violent arrest of a Black cab driver named John William Smith. Once rumors spread that the police killed Smith while in custody, the city experienced several nights of destructive riots that resulted in more than two dozen deaths and extensive property damage.
These riots will serve as a backdrop in The Many Saints of Newark. The film features a major clash between the DiMeo crime family (of which the Sopranos and Moltisantis are members) and a rival crime family led by Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.).
For more on this long-awaited prequel, check out IGN's review of The Many Saints of Newark and brush up on the cast of characters.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
