‘The Many Saints of Newark’ Ending Explained: ‘The Sopranos’ Prequel Comes With a Twist

Warning: This article contains major The Many Saints of Newark spoilers. Don’t read this unless you’ve already seen the movie!

The Sopranos ending has long been one of the most-debated TV endings of all time, well before the “ending explained” phenomenon swept across the Google-search-drive entertainment journalism industry. For that reason, you can’t blame Sopranos fans for wondering if creator David Chase would end his new movie, The Many Saints of Newark—now playing in theaters and on HBO Max—in a similarly ambiguous fashion.

Co-written by Chase and former Sopranos writer Lawrence Konner, and directed by frequent Sopranos director Alan Taylor, The Many Saints of Newark is a prequel to the Emmy-winning HBO series. Michael Gandolfini, the son of the late James Gandolfini, plays Tony Soprano as a teenager growing up in the ’70s who looks up to his crime boss uncle, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola).

There’s plenty of whack jobs and gabagool to be had, but there a lot of different threads to this story. If you’re looking to make sense of it all, read on for The Many Saints of Newark plot summary, and The Many Saints of Newark ending explained.

WHAT IS THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK PLOT?

Tony Soprano, played as a child by William Ludwig, is a boy growing up in the late 60s. But this movie isn’t really about Tony Soprano—it’s really about Tony’s “uncle,” Richard “Dickie” Moltisanti (played by Alessandro Nivola), the father of Christopher Moltisanti. The entire movie, by the way, is narrated by Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti from beyond the grave.

Dickie Moltisanti (which means “many saints” in Italian, hence the title) is running a region of New Jersey for the DiMeo crime family, with various people working for him that Sopranos fans will no doubt recognize. But the main conflict comes between Dickie and a new character, Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.), who is Dickie’s former high school teammate. Harold works as a runner for Dickie who collects payments primarily in the Black neighborhoods. More on him in a bit.

At home, Dickie is dealing with his father, Hollywood Dick (Ray Liotta), and his father’s hot, young new wife from Italy, Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi). When Dickie gets wind that his father is beating up his new wife, he gives his father a talking-to—and, in the film’s most shocking scene, he ends up killing him. Dickie blames the murder on the African American community, using the 1967 riots in the city as an easy way to dispose of the body. Feeling guilt over his father’s death, Dickie begins doing “good deeds,” like visiting his father’s brother Sal (also played by Ray Liotta) in jail.

Flash-forward to the 1970s. Tony Soprano is now a teenager played by Michael Gandolfini, the son of the late James Gandolfini. Dickie Moltisanti has now made his father’s widow Giuseppina his mistress. And Harold is now running his own scheme.

Meanwhile, Tony Soprano is getting into trouble at school, despite his ambition of becoming an NFL player. His father (Jon Bernthal) just got back from prison; his mother (Vera Farmiga) is emotionally unstable; and his real uncle, Junior (Corey Stoll), doesn’t think he has what it takes to be a varsity athlete (a winking nod to the show). The only person left to guide him is Dickie, and while Dickie wants to do right by Tony, he’s got his own demons to deal with.

WHAT IS THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK ENDING, EXPLAINED?

The rivalry between Dickie and Harold heats up to the point where Harold sleeps with Dickie’s girlfriend and whacks one of Dickie’s guys. At the funeral, Junior slips and falls on the stairs, incurring a painful injury, while Dickie laughs cruelly at him. Also at the funeral, Tony asks for Dickie’s help to get his mother some mood-stabilizing pills, thinking the drugs could help her.

It’s an all-out war between Dickie and Harold now, and the two have a shoot-out in the street with their guys. Both Dickie and Harold get out alive, and then Dickie decides to go on a sex vacation with his mistress. (Sure, why not?) When Giuseppina admits she slept with Harold, Dickie is overcome with rage and drowns her in the ocean.

Dickie visits his uncle Sal in prison and claims his mistress died of pneumonia, but Sal seems to suspect the truth. Sal tells Dickie the best way he can help young Tony is to stay out of his life. Dickie takes this advice to heart and starts avoiding Tony’s calls and dodging his visits, much to Tony’s dismay.

Dickie receives word that Harold has been spotted, and makes a plan to whack him the next day. Dickie drives home, and as he is unpacking his car, he is shot in the head by a man in shadow. At a telephone booth, Junior (Corey Stoll) receives a call that “it’s done.” We understand that Junior was the one who orchestrated the hit on Dickie, as payback for that time that Dickie laughed at Junior for falling on the steps. And for Sopranos fans, that twist comes with the added revelation that the Junior they know, played by Dominic Chianese on the show, once had Christopher Moltisanti’s father killed.

At Dickie’s funeral, we learn that mood-stabilizing drugs were found in his pocket, meaning that Dickie came through for Tony in the end. The final shot of the film is of Tony standing over Dickie’s casket, reaching out a pinkie for a pinkie promise, just as Dickie once did for him when Tony was little.

IS THERE A MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK POST CREDITS SCENE?

Sort of. Just a few seconds after the credits begin to roll, we cut back to the movie. Harold, still alive, is moving his family into a white neighborhood and waves cheerfully at the white neighbors who are staring. He unrolls a fat stack of cash to pay the movers—clearly, he’s a new boss in town.

Beyond that, however, there is no other The Many Saints of Newark after credits. But you can still feel free to watch to the end, to pay your respects to the people who worked hard on the movie.

Watch The Many Saints of Newark on HBO Max