preparing to revisit his iconic mob family for a movie set decades prior to the action of the show. Taking place during the 1967 Newark riots, the film will explore racial tensions that erupted between Italian-American and African-American criminal organizations, while also checking in on younger versions of several key characters from the original show.

After it debuted in January of 1999, The Sopranos quickly went on to establish itself as one of most controversial sign-offs in television history.

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After years of rumors of a potential Sopranos follow-up series or film, creator David Chase is now ready to dive back into his mob universe with the prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark, currently being set up at New Line. The Wrap reports that Chase will entrust director Alan Taylor to helm the project, working from a script co-written by Chase and Lawrence Konner.

The veteran director Taylor has helmed several high-profile film projects in recent years, including the MCU entry Thor: The Dark World and the maligned reboot Terminator Genisys. He also has vast experience in television, and particularly with HBO series. Taylor, in fact, directed nine episodes of The Sopranos, including the season 6 episode, "Kennedy and Heidi," which won him an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. Taylor also directed four episodes of the AMC series Deadwood.

Details on The Many Saints of Newark are still being kept largely under wraps. As of now, no one knows which original Sopranos characters are set to appear, but it's a fair guess that Tony's father Johnny Boy will show up, as well as his mother Livia, who was played so memorably on the original series by the late Nancy Marchand. A younger version of Uncle June, played on the show by Dominic Chianese, is also a good bet to appear in the Sopranos prequel.

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Source: The Wrap