The upcoming ‘Sopranos’ prequel titled ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ is adding to the cast with Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal joining the ensemble…
The highly anticipated prequel to ‘The Sopranos’ has just added two major cast members in undisclosed roles.
Vera Farmiga — best known for her role as Norma Bates in ‘Bates Motel’ as well as past films such as ‘The Departed’ — has joined the cast of the film that will be called ‘The Many Saints of Newark’.
Also, Jon Bernthal — from ‘The Punisher’ and ‘The Walking Dead’ as well as film roles such as ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ — will also join the cast for the film that will take place in the late 1960’s following the riots in Newark, New Jersey.
Farmiga and Bernthal join a cast that already includes Alessandro Nivola, who is playing mob associate Dickie Moltisanti — a mentor to a young Tony Soprano and father to Christopher Moltisanti, who is eventually gunned down by a crooked cop.
There’s no word on who Farmiga or Bernthal will be playing but ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ is expected to feature younger versions of many of the characters from ‘The Sopranos’. Speculation ran wild online after Farmiga’s casting that perhaps she would be playing Livia Soprano — Tony’s temperamental mother, who played a major role in ‘The Sopranos’ as portrayed by Nancy Marchand. Obviously nothing has been confirmed yet about her role in the movie.
‘The Many Saints of Newark’ will be written by ‘Sopranos’ creator David Chase with Alan Taylor attached to direct.
The film will follow the New Jersey mafia during the racial unrest that led to the 1967 Newark riots and the aftermath of those events that pitted many Italian-Americans against many African-Americans, often times with bloody results.
Production on ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ is expected to start later this year.
