Michael Gandolfini Will Step Into The Shoes Of His Father As Young Tony Soprano In 'The Many Saints of Newark'

Depending on who you ask, fans of the hit HBO series The Sopranos are either excited or down right pissed off that the shows creator David Chase is bringing a prequel movie to the big screen. Little is known about the movie other than that it will focus on the riots between Italians and African-Americans in Newark, New Jersey during the 1960s. For weeks the only casting news we had gotten was Alessandro Navoli as Christopher father Dickie Moltisanti, but now things have really started to pick up. While its unknown who most of the other additions to the cast are playing, we now know that James Galdolfini's son Michael will be starring in the younger version of his character Tony.

Deadline broke the news that Michael, who is an actor currently featured on James Franco's TV show Deuce, landed the role after an extensive casting process. Chase apparently really wanted to make sure Michael was the right guy for the job, but one could imagine no one knows his father's mannerisms as well as his own son. The casting is of course bittersweet as James passed away in 2013, but it seems like a very fitting way to honor him by having his son play his part. 

Its hard to tell how young Tony will be featured in the movie, and how much screen time he'll be getting. We're expecting to see a young Dickie alongside Tony's father and uncle Johnny Boy Soprano and Junior. With Jon Bernthal and Corey Stoll joining the cast recently, its been suggested by fans that those might be the roles the two of them are playing. Young Johnny and Junior were featured in some flashbacks to Tony's childhood in the original series, but it makes sense that the roles would have to be recast as its been twenty years. 

Its possible that the movie will progress through time showing the original generation of the family, and eventually end up with an adolescent Tony. We can probably expect the casting of young Silvio, Pussy, Paulie, and even Ralph Cifaretto at some point if they're really going to show us the origins of Tony's crew. As for what roles Vera Farmiga and Billy Magnussen could be playing, the former is believed to be taking on the role of Tony's devilish mother Livia Soprano. Its hard to tell who any of them are playing this early on, but we should get confirmation at some point soon when an official cast list hits the web.

So what do you think of Michael playing a young Tony? What roles do you think the other actors are playing? Let us know below!