A younger version of Tony Soprano will feature in The Sopranos prequel film

Tony's back

After all these years, maybe those fans of The Sopranos that absolutely hated the ending will finally get an element of closure. Granted, the superb HBO drama is very much its own beast that's untouchable, but the head of New Jersey's most beloved criminal empire will be making an appearance in the new prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark. Of course, given that the feature-length film is a prequel that's set in the '60s, we'll be treated to a much younger version of Tony, and David Chase (creator of the show) has elaborated on what's in store. Apparently, the future head of the criminal empire will be around 8 years old in Alan Taylor's (Game of Thrones, Thor: The Dark World) film. In an interview with Deadline, Chase confirmed the news and said: “The thing that interested me most was Tony’s boyhood. I was interested in exploring that." Aside from this, he also confirmed that the heated social-political climate of the era and the 1967 Newark race riots will be massive factors in the story. “The movie will deal with the tensions between the blacks and whites at the time, and Tony Soprano will be part of this, but as a kid," said Chase. Of course, ever since the film was announced, some fans of The Sopranos were reluctant to see a film adaptation because for many, the TV show is sacred and can't be improved upon. Fear not because Chase holds these exact same fears. “I was against [the movie] for a long time and and I’m still very worried about it, but I became interested in Newark, where my parents came from, and where the riots took place…I started thinking about those events and organised crime, and I just got interested in mixing those two elements," he said. This being said, Chase also elaborated that the film will harken back to a more 'professional' era of the Mafia. "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," he said. Casting is currently underway for The Many Saints of Newark. A few months ago, it was revealed that Alessandro Nivola had been cast as Dickie Moltisanti, father of Sopranos character Christopher Moltisanti, in the film.