One of the actors in The Sopranos has revealed that star James Gandolfini and the show’s bosses wanted to make a spin-off movie before he passed away.

The HBO series wrapped-up for six seasons back on 2007, though Gandolfini – who played Tony Soprano – died in 2013.

However, actor Vincent Pastore (Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero) has admitted that prior to his death, his co-star was keen to do a movie, claiming that the show’s famous cut-to-black ending was deliberately ambiguous amid plans for a big screen outing.


“People ask, ‘Why did [creator] David [Chase] end it like that?’” he told The Sunday Times. “Well, David didn’t know what he wanted to do.

“That’s why he went blank with the screen, and also Jimmy wanted a break. Everyone did. But they were talking about doing a movie and coming back with Jimmy, because, at that dinner, David said to me, ‘So, when do you want to come back to work?’”

“Anyway, Jimmy said he had this thing he had to get done, then we’d get back,” Pastore continued. “And he looked at me, right in the face, looked at David, and said, ‘And you’d better bring Vinny back.’

“He said he’d figured it out. What they were going to do was say it was a dream that I died and that I was in witness protection. [In Pussy’s final episode] Tony was sick and dreaming a lot, so it could have been a dream.


“So, yes, we were going to make a big movie. But, a year later, Jimmy passed away. So that was that out the window.”

The Sopranos is set to get a prequel movie called The Many Saints of Newark, with Gandolfini’s son Michael playing a younger version of Tony Soprano. The movie will also star the likes of Jon Bernthal, Alesandro Nivola and Ray Liotta.