Next season expected in 2004, extra episodes likely
BANFF, Canada – They won’t be bustin’ heads on “The Sopranos” any time in 2003, according to the show’s creator, David Chase.
In fact, the critically praised HBO drama may not appear until February or, gulp, March.
Yet the wait may come with some upside for the millions of loyal followers who have been suffering from “Sopranos” withdrawal since the fourth season finale in December 2002: extra episodes.
Chase said Sunday it’s likely the show will extend beyond the planned 13 episodes in the coming season. “I’d planned out an arc for Season Five that would have ended the show,” Chase said. “But as we’re getting into it, we’re finding there’s a lot more material. We could cram it into 13 episodes, but I don’t know that it’s the right thing to do. So there may be additional episodes.”
How many extra episodes will be made has not been settled, but it could be as many as six – or a half-season more than originally planned. Chase and HBO officials are now talking about an extension.
“I suspect,” he said, smiling, “they’ll be OK with that.”
Fans will be OK, too. Since December, talk had centered on the fifth season being the final outing for the drama, which follows fictional New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, and his crew of hoodlums.
Chase concocted a “Sopranos” end last summer and plans to write and direct the final episode.
As for the short but serious confrontation earlier this year in which Gandolfini and HBO filed lawsuits over the actor’s refusal to show up for work, Chase described it as “not that uncomfortable,” because he felt it would eventually work out.
“I’ve been in the business quite a while, and I can’t remember any time that the show splintered apart (over a work stoppage),” Chase said.
“With Gandolfini, I just felt it would probably work out. And if it didn’t, there’s nothing you could do about it,” he added. “He is so much responsible for the success of the show that I couldn’t say it enough times, what he’s brought to that role.”
Gandolfini’s return to the set “took a little bit” of adjustment before everything smoothed over, Chase admitted.
“Our first episodes are always kind of troubled, for one reason or another, and let’s just say that this one was, too. But now it’s going real well.”
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