If you’re a fan of The Sopranos or just mob movies in general, then you should be extremely excited about the upcoming prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark. Jon Bernthal joined the ‘Lights Camera Barstool’ podcast in an episode released today to plug his new movie Ford v Ferrari, but shed some light on the Sopranos prequel which he stars in as well. 

Maybe it’s because the film is not set to be released until September 2020, but I feel like there is not as much hype around it as there should be. The Sopranos catapulted HBO into the industry leader it is today and is one of the best shows of all time. Similarly, we do not know much about the prequel movie, but…

Here’s what we do know: 

• James Gandolfini’s son, Michael will portray a younger Tony Soprano in 1960’s-70’s Newark, NJ. 
• David Chase, creator of the TV series is producing and writing the film. 
• Several members of the “family” that were mentioned but never seen in the TV series will be represented – such as Dickie Moltisanti (Christopher’s father).

And that’s really about it. I was super excited to find out that Jon Bernthal was cast in the film not only because he’s a great actor but because he has the experience to lead a movie like this. I’m assuming he’s going to have a big role because how could you cast The Punisher and not make him an essential member of the film? He really didn’t give away any spoilers regarding the plot, but just hearing him talk about the film got me hyped up for it. 

Bernthal has portrayed several badasses over the years: Frank Castle in The Punisher, Shane in The Walking Dead, and Brad in The Wolf of Wall Street (a smaller role but still essential), and the list goes on. Based on some of the pictures that have surfaced form the set he will no doubt play a mobster and have to kick some ass – something his characters are accustomed to. 

Ray Liotta and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) are also slated to have roles in the film, and I am especially stoked for Liotta. Goodfellas is one of the best mob movies of all time, if not the best, so we know Liotta will kill it in whatever role he’s cast. 

It’s pretty clear that they are done filming, so once the trailer for The Many Saints of Newark gets released we’ll have a better idea of the plot, the hype around this movie should make it the blockbuster of the fall.