After a long delay, “The Sopranos” prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” hits cinemas and HBO Max in September – adding a bit more insight into Tony Soprano’s story almost fifteen years after the legendary series wrapped its run in 2007.
Recently though, the show’s female lead Edie Falco told The Athletic podcast (via The Playlist) that the series was going to get something of a revival back in 2010 – but not in the way you think.
It seems The New York Knicks, hoping to catch the attention of NBA superstar LeBron James, came up with an idea to try and persuade him to join the team. How do they do that? By hiring Falco and James Gandolfini to produce and star in a short film that served as a sequel to the series.
Shot in Gandolfini’s New York apartment with a ten-minute runtime, the short revealed that Tony was alive and safe in the witness protection program – putting to rest any debate over the characters’ fate after the famed ambiguous finale. Falco says:
“We got those requests all the time back then and [James] Gandolfini, he did nothing… And somehow, he agreed to this thing, which I was shocked by. I thought it was a prank when someone said he’s going to do it… [and then] there he was, dressed as Tony. He must have been a bigger basketball fan than I realized.”
The strategy didn’t work as James signed with the Miami Heat. The short film itself is apparently lost in an archive somewhere, and the podcast producers’ weren’t able to track it down.
Gandolfini’s son Michael will play a younger Tony Soprano in “The Many Saints of Newark” which arrives September 24th and hails from series creator and writer David Chase. Magnussen, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, and Leslie Odom Jr. co-star.