‘SOPRANOS’ GETTING PREQUEL TREATMENT

“The Sopranos” — HBO’s drama about a group of New Jersey mobsters led by Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini) — forever changed television. Critic Rob Sheffield is one of many to name it the best show of all time. He wrote in Rolling Stone, “The crime saga that cut the history of TV in two, kicking off a golden age when suddenly anything seemed possible.”

Without it, many argue, we wouldn’t have “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” “The Wire” or even “Game of Thrones.”

The show reigned over the television landscape for six seasons from 1999 to 2007, earning 21 Emmys. It concluded with a divisive finale which left up in the air whether Tony is killed. The camera cut away at the last minute, leaving fans hungry for more episodes — or at least some resolution.

Well, for those fans, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news: The show’s creator David Chase is telling more of the Sopranos story with a movie.

The bad news: It won’t offer any hints about that inconclusive finale because it’s going to be a prequel.

Warner Bros. Pictures told the Associated Press last week that its imprint New Line Cinema purchased a screenplay from Chase and “Mona Lisa Smile” screenwriter Lawrence Konner, who worked on a few episodes of “The Sopranos.”

The movie’s working title is “The Many Saints of Newark.” It will be set during the 1967 Newark race riots — five days of rioting sparked when police beat a black cabdriver named John Smith. The rioting grew so fierce that a policeman was eventually killed, and the National Guard was sent in with orders to use their weapons at will, NPR reported.

Chase and Konner’s screenplay inserts the Soprano family into this real-world drama.