Edie Falco reprised her role as Carmela in The Many Saints Of Newark but the scene got cut

The Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints Of Newark takes us back to Tony’s beginnings, with a look at what growing up in the Sopranos family was like. Besides seeing Tony’s difficult mother Livia, his shitty dad Johnny, and power-hungry uncle Junior, we’ll encounter familiar characters like Paulie Walnuts, Dickie Moltisanti, and Silvio Dante. As fans know, Tony and his wife Carmela met when they were in high school, so it’s surprising that we don’t get to see the early stages of their relationship, especially since Carmela’s a huge fan-favorite. Just imagine the incredible outfits teenage Carmela could’ve worn! It turns out director Alan Taylor did initially write her into the movie, but the scene got cut.

Taylor tells NME that he had Edie Falco “come in and she dressed up as Carmela and we shot something with her and it wound up not being in the final movie but it was a great excuse to see her again.” He adds, “She’s so ridiculously talented and she’s also one of these people who–and it seems to frequently be women–that manage to be perfect actors and also the sanest people you’ve ever met in your life.”

Given how The Many Saints Of Newark is solely focused on Tony’s teen years, it’s unclear how current-day Carmela would figure into this. But Taylor explains that the scene was shot while trying to figure out how to kickstart the film. “There was some confusion as to how best launch the movie. How to start the movie,” he says. “So we tried a few things and that was one of them. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll see that we begin it in a very different way now but that wasn’t always the idea.”

The prequel premieres at Tribeca on September 22, and hits theaters and HBO Max on October 1.