The Sopranos Is Getting a Movie Prequel, Courtesy of David Chase

Fans of The Sopranos could spend the next 20 years arguing about what really happened to Tony Soprano when, in the final moments of the 2007 series finale, the screen unexpectedly went black and Steve Perry stopped screeching at us to “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Did Tony ever get to eat the onion rings he ordered, or did that guy in the Members Only jacket cut his deep-fried enjoyment short? While series creator David Chase has refused to offer much in the way of assistance in sorting it all out, sticking with his assertion that the scene gives the viewer every piece of information he or she needs to figure it out, he’s about to give fans of the groundbreaking HBO crime drama a new chapter in the Soprano family saga: a movie prequel.

On Thursday, Warner Bros. announced that Chase and Lawrence Konner (who was a writer on The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire) had already written the script for the prequel, which is tentatively titled The Many Saints of Newark. According to The New York Times, the story will take place in Newark during the 1960s—when Tony was still just a kid—and revolve around the city’s race riots, which pitted the Italian and African American communities against each other during the “Long Hot Summer of 1967.”

Though Chase co-wrote and will produce the film, he will not direct it. While Variety reported that “some fan-favorite characters from The Sopranos are expected to appear in the film,” no casting announcements have been made—nor has any anticipated release date been given. Which leaves you plenty of time to return to that whole “Did Tony get whacked or not?” argument.

[h/t: The New York Times]