The Many Saints Of Newark's New Trailer Has The Sopranos Fans Losing It
The upcoming film "The Many Saints of Newark" will serve as a prequel to the events of "The Sopranos," chronicling series lead Tony Soprano's high school years. The project was first announced back in 2018, and has been in the works ever since. Like most films produced over the course of the past two years, however, its release date has been delayed several times. When filming resumed in late 2020, the original September 25, 2020 release date was pushed back to March 2021. Of course, March came and went, and the film is now scheduled for an October 1, 2021 release, simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters.
Fortunately, this date looks to be the real deal. The October 1 release was announced in conjunction with the brand new, first full trailer for "The Many Saints of Newark," which also gave fans their first look at a full two-plus minutes of footage from the first new "Sopranos" story since 2007.
While the timing of its impending release is more likely serendipitous than intended to take advantage of this fact, "The Sopranos" experienced something of a renaissance in 2020. In short, "The Sopranos" gained a 179% increase in viewership (via GQ), most likely driven by an increase in TV viewing time as a result of stay-at-home orders instituted to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, and later amplified by its resulting popularity on social media.
Reactions to the new "Many Saints of Newark" trailer are therefore coming from a mix of old and new fans of "The Sopranos," a show often credited with ushering in the so-called Golden Age of TV.
The return of Tony Soprano
The new "Many Saints of Newark" trailer opens with a voiceover from the late James Gandolfini, stating, "When I was a kid, guys like me were brought up to follow codes." Meanwhile, on screen, his son Michael Gandolfini is portraying a high school-aged Tony Soprano, the very character James Gandolfini made famous.
Many fans have responded positively to the inclusion of James Gandolfini's voice, and to Michael Gandolfini's resemblance to his late father. YouTube user WiseGuy Champia wrote that, "it's good to hear James Gandolfini voice."
In response to the trailer on Twitter, user @daggerandpen noted how much "he looks just like his dad," referring, of course, to Michael Gandolfini.
Some fans are simply excited by the trailer in its entirety. @Louie_Rock on Twitter shared that they "watched this ten times already. Can't wait!"
Meanwhile, users like @cyberpurrnk and @AK47_80 on Twitter, mmostwill on YouTube, and countless others on social media are describing either the younger version of Tony Soprano or even the trailer itself as having "the makings of a varsity athlete." This is a reference to how Tony's uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) describes high school-aged Tony, which bothers Tony both due to the implication that he never lived up to his full potential, and the fact that Junior is actively forgetting that Tony lettered in football in high school.
It's clear that the fans are excited for the October 1 release of "The Many Saints of Newark."