Fans of The Sopranos had mixed feelings when the HBO mob drama concluded by leaving Tony’s (James Gandolfini) ending open to interpretation.
Now, nearly 15 years after that much-talked-about finale, Edie Falco is revealing that she and Gandolfini reprised their roles for a secret sequel short in 2010, which would answer the all-encompassing question of whether Tony survived or not. Falco revealed that she and Gandolfini agreed to tape a special segment as part of New York City’s bid to recruit LeBron James for the Knicks.
Speaking about the subject in a recent episode for the Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks podcast, Falco recalls that the short involved Tony and Carmela Soprano living in witness protection. But don’t expect to see the segment anytime soon, as the actress noted they filmed it specifically as a means of trying to recruit the basketball star for the New York team.
“We’d get these requests all the time,” she explained, “and [James] Gandolfini did nothing. Somehow he agreed to this thing, which I was shocked by.” The short was even filmed in Gandolfini’s Tribeca apartment.
Falco claims she didn’t initially believe Gandolfini would be involved, but sure enough, he was. “There we were, dressed as our characters,” Falco recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘This can’t possibly be happening?’”
According to Falco, in the sketch, Tony and Carmela were planning to help LeBron find someplace to live in New York. “I’d be very curious to see this thing,” Falco remarks now.
“Jim Gandolfini would rarely do these kinds of things and if he did, he would do them very begrudgingly … [but] Jim was into this, he was really into it,” Falco explained. “I guess he must have been a bigger basketball fan than I realized.”
But whether or not fans choose to believe this little short is part of Tony Soprano’s fate is up to them, as Falco claimed “it was not in any way connected” to the original show’s canon. Perhaps the upcoming prequel film The Many Saints of Newark will provide some long-awaited answers? Gandolfini’s son Michael is set to portray a younger version of the New Jersey mob boss in the movie, which is set to release this fall.
