James Gandolfini son’s just landed a killer role, playing the Tony Soprano character that his father made famous, Deadline reported.
Michael Gandolfini has been cast as a young Tony in “The Many Saints of Newark,” New Line’s prequel movie to HBO’s mob series “The Sopranos” (1999-2007).
“It’s a profound honor to continue my dad’s legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano,” Gandolfini said in a statement, per Variety.
The film, co-written by “The Sopranos” series creator, David Chase, is set during the Newark riots in 1967. Cory Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Jon Bernthal, Alessandro Nivola, and Vera Farmiga have also been cast, Variety reported. Some of the series’ original characters also will appear.
The younger Gandolfini is best known for playing Joey Dwyer on another HBO property, the sex-industry-set “The Deuce.”
James Gandolfini died at age 51 in 2013. Gandolfini won three Emmys for the role, which featured him as the head of a New Jersey crime family.