WARNING: the following contains spoilers for The Many Saints of Newark, in theaters and on HBO Max now.

The Many Saints of Newark is the long-awaited prequel to The Sopranos, but the fact that it only references this in its subtitle is rather telling. The movie is much more about Dickie Moltisanti than any other character, and that includes its younger version of franchise face Tony Soprano. In fact, Tony's role in the movie is similar to another iconic character in a Star Wars prequel.

Tony Soprano's glorified cameo in The Many Saints of Newark is not unlike that of young Boba Fett's presence in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Both characters are synonymous with their respective franchises and their fictional genre in general, but neither had much importance overall in their prequel stories. Here's how the future head of the Soprano crime family paralleled the young version of the Mandalorian bounty hunter.

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Tony Soprano's Small Role in The Many Saints of Newark

Michael-Gandolfini as young Tony Soprano in Many Saints of Newark

The Many Saints of Newark used its connection to The Sopranos in marketing material, posing questions such as "Who Made Tony Soprano?" to garner interest given that its title might hide its franchise connection. Despite all of this, the young Tony Soprano and most of the other characters first introduced in The Sopranos are featured as, at most, window dressing in the story of Dickie Moltisanti. Even Dickie and Tony's relationship, despite becoming more important in the latter half of the movie, is fairly underdeveloped, and thus so is Tony himself.

Tony instead appears as a petulant, if proactive teenager, lacking most of the attributes that he will be known for in his adulthood. While parallels could be drawn between Tony and his future loser of a son Anthony, Jr., the appearance here in The Many Saints of Newark does the young mob boss in the making no favors. As weird as this narrative choice may seem to fans of The Sopranos, it actually resembles the use of a classic Star Wars villain in the franchise's prequel films.

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Tony Soprano vs. Boba Fett

Jango and Boba Fett

Attack of the Clones introduced a young version of Boba Fett, the cool and mysterious bounty hunter best known for his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Though a peek at his origins sounded interesting on paper, the movie barely did anything with him. Instead, he was a mere child who showed up in a few scenes, with the only real look at his future coming after his father's death.

This relatively innocuous look at a future killer is just like what's done with young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark. Years away from truly being "made," this Tony is barely even a shadow of the person he'll become. Likewise, much as he's underdeveloped in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Boba Fett was similarly undercooked in the prequel trilogy, feeling more like an extended shout-out to fans than anything. The same can be said for Tony and other Sopranos characters such as Silvio, Paulie and Tony's future wife Carmella. Adding nothing to the story, their relatively toothless uses in both movies essentially just offer fanservice and little else.

To see just how limited Tony's role is, The Many Saints of Newark is currently playing in theaters and on HBO Max.

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