The Unexpected Sopranos Reunion During The Super Bowl Had Fans Hyped
"The Sopranos" hasn't been seen on the air since 2007, so fans were certainly surprised by a little reunion during Super Bowl LVI tonight, and more than a little excited.
The moment took place during a commercial for the Chevrolet Silverado's first electric truck, which aired during the first half of the big game. Fans were hyped from the start, when "The Sopranos" theme song, "Woke Up This Morning" from British band Alabama 3, started playing. Scenes of the New York skyline and expressway signs soon give way to the profile of actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Tony's (James Gandolfini) daughter Meadow, driving into New Jersey in a frame-by-frame reproduction of the opening sequence from the series — with a few updates to acknowledge the time that's passed.
In the original, of course, it's the late Gandolfini who's doing the driving. Toward the end, Sigler parks the car at a charging station and gets out, but rather than fading to black like the original series, she embraces another familiar face: Robert Iler, who played her brother A.J. on the show. And, the ad wasn't just a reunion of the two actors; Chevy also brought "Sopranos" show creator David Chase in as the director (via Variety). No wonder fans were hyped!
Fans loved the callback to the title sequence—and the nod to show's finale
Some fans are saying that the 60-second commercial "wins" the competition between game ads, calling it the "best commercial of the Super Bowl." Several fans even expressed the thought that the commercial was better than "The Many Saints of Newark," last year's prequel. "I'm buying a Chevy," Pod-O-My podcast hosts at @SopranosWorld declared.
And yes, that bit where Meadow parks the car reminded people of "The Sopranos"' final scenes — the one where Tony is gunned down while waiting for his family to dine with him. During the ambiguously-concluded assassination attempt, Meadow is outside, fruitlessly trying to parallel park in front of the restaurant. User Dustin Penner commented on the YouTube video, "She has really improved her parallel parking skills!" while Twitter user @caroljsroth thought it a missed opportunity. "How did they drop the ball on that Sopranos Chevy commercial by not having 'Meadow' struggle with the parking?!!" they asked.
Sigler said in the behind-the-scenes video that was released with the commercial, "It's this funny thing with 'Sopranos.' Every time you think it's the last time we're going to all be together, the last time we're really going to talk about 'The Sopranos,' well, there's always something else." Tonight, fans are definitely happy this is true.