Image via Anthony Neste; HBO, Everett Collection
Published Aug 11, 2026, 5:44 PM EDT
Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.
Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. She is currently completing her Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works, and is expected to graduate in 2026.
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In 1999, The Sopranos set the bar for modern Mafia dramas by imagining what life looked like after the glory days of the Italian-American mob. Its characters desperately clung to the old ways while slowly realizing that the world around them was changing—and maybe this was it for the Mafia as they knew it. The show's deeply existential take on organized crime is ultimately what made The Sopranos so magnetic.
The Mafia genre has long been associated with brutal violence, power, and control over every illicit business imaginable. But with new technology, RICO regulations, and an increasingly sophisticated FBI, the old ways of doing business are becoming harder to sustain, leaving its characters in The Sopranos to wrestle with a growing sense of uncertainty. Hypothetically, if The Sopranos were remade today, the talent would need to be just as formidable. So, without further ado, here is the perfect The Sopranos cast if the drama were made in 2026.
Jon Bernthal: Tony Soprano
Image via NetflixTony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is the ultimate anti-hero. Sure, he has no qualms about killing someone to protect the DiMeo crime family. But having been raised in an abusive mob family since he was a young boy does a number on the adult psyche, which is what makes Tony's story all the more nuanced: a tough guy with a therapist.
Bernthal is modern television's anti-hero, with his roles constantly juggling between good versus bad. As Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead, his protective instincts get the better of him, fueled by jealousy. As Frank Castle in The Punisher, he justifies his vigilante acts through the traumatic murders of his family. But Bernthal is also capable of self-deprecating humor, à la Michael Berzatto in The Bear — the secret ingredient to Tony Soprano. And maybe it's pure coincidence, but both Tony and Bernthal—more or less—share the same catchphrase: "Let me tell you something."
Honorable mentions: Colin Farrell (he carries the depth of his performance as Oz Cobb from The Penguin); Christian Bale (he's notorious for the sheer commitment and intensity he puts into his roles).
Vera Farmiga: Carmela Soprano
Image via A&ECarmela Soprano (Edie Falco) lives by one motto: ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately, when her own husband is the one doing all the killing, it's hard not to notice the bodies dropping on the floor. Despite being the wife of a mob boss, she has a separate identity outside of that. She's a caring mother, a sharp woman, and doesn't take any of Tony's rubbish.
Vera Farmiga has experience playing the woman who lives in complicity. Her performance as Norma Bates in Bates Motel shows her being protective of her son, despite being on the edge of the circumstances around her. The same goes for her work in The Departed as Madolyn, where she shows the same emotional conflict without being too theatrical as the men around her dabble in criminal conduct.
Honorable mention: Frances McDormand (she's known for playing gritty roles in Fargo and Mississippi Burning).
Mikey Madison: Meadow Soprano
Image via Paramount PicturesMeadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) has the toughest job of being the eldest daughter of the Soprano family. Like her mother, she doesn't deny that her privilege comes from dirty money. Although she may be spoiled and self-righteous, she's also intelligent—using her resources to attend Columbia University. She might hate Tony's career, but as his daughter, it's hard not to rationalize his behavior.
Mikey Madison is known for playing young women trapped in dangerous situations, like Amber Freeman in Scream and Sadie Atkins in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, it's her role in Anora that shows she has the fierce spunk needed to play Meadow. Anora herself isn't the most morally straightforward, but she is understanding toward men who, in the first place, shouldn't deserve grace.
Honorable mention: Cailee Spaeny (she played a naive woman who lives in the shadows of a larger-than-life man in Priscilla).
Michelle Monaghan: Dr. Melfi
Image via NetflixDr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) is both terrified and fascinated by Tony. As his psychiatrist, her job is to listen to Tony as he shares about his panic attacks. But with an ego as high as his, it is Dr. Melfi's job to challenge him to accept his shortcomings. She might not be part of Tony's world, but Dr. Melfi doesn't treat Tony like a mob boss in her office.
Michelle Monaghan's most recent role as Hollywood celebrity Jaclyn Lemon in The White Lotus has the same controlled, socially intelligent observational traits as Dr. Melfi. But her role as Maggie Hart in True Detective sees her unfazed by the behavior of two damaged detectives, giving her the composure to stand her ground.
Honorable mention: Laura Dern (she played the intelligent yet composed Renata Klein in Big Little Lies).
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Jeremy Allen White: Christopher Moltisanti
Image via ShowtimeChristopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) might be Tony's nephew and protégé, but The Sopranos shows that it takes more than blood to prove your worth. All Christopher ever wants is respect among the mob, which leads him to chase after validation, especially from Tony, but his insecurities often manifest in sporadic, violent acts instead, all in the name of machismo.
Jeremy Allen White knows a lot about playing brilliant yet doubtful men. White's Shameless character, Lip Gallagher, shares Christopher's tendency toward self-destructive behavior. The same goes for Carmy Berzatto in The Bear. However, in The Bear, there's nuance behind why Carmy behaves the way he does, portraying his internal anxiety without having to explicitly explain it.
Honorable mention: Barry Keoghan (previous work playing insecure, messy characters in The Banshees of Inisherin and Saltburn).
Domenick Lombardozzi: Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero
Image via Paramount+Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) is one of Tony's oldest friends in the DiMeo crime family. Unfortunately, their lifelong friendship doesn't amount to much when financial constraints hit Big Pussy's wallet. Unable to afford his children's college tuition, Big Pussy doubles as an FBI informant, which eventually leads to one of The Sopranos' most heartbreaking deaths.
Domenick Lombardozzi has an entire résumé of playing men who work either for or outside the law, which makes him perfect double-agent material for a character like Big Pussy. He got his breakthrough as Nicky Zero in A Bronx Tale, but his most recent role as Chickie in Tulsa King gives him the exposure needed to play a man who grew up inside a Mafia family without necessarily having the riches that come with it.
Honorable mention: John Turturro (he played conflicted men in The Night Of and The Plot Against America).
Stanley Tucci: Corrado "Junior" Soprano
Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano (Dominic Chianese) is the DiMeo boss who never was. Technically, he serves as the nominal boss following Jackie Aprile Sr.'s (Michael Rispoli) death, but nobody's kidding him. At the end of the day, Tony still calls the shots on the street, leaving Junior in an awkward position of power, knowing that his nephew holds the reins.
Stanley Tucci is a man of versatility, playing everything from comedy to thrillers. But his fan-favorite performance as Cardinal Aldo Bellini in Conclave bears the most similarity to Uncle Junior's conundrum, as he, too, is a powerful older man stuck in an age-old hierarchy while still having ambitions of his own. His work as Bernard Orlick in Citadel also has the grit of Uncle Junior, as both men work within dangerous organizations.
Honorable mention: John Lithgow (he's played authoritative older men with a sinister edge in Dexter and The Crown).
Maika Monroe: Adriana La Cerva
Image via IFC MidnightAdriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo) has the unfortunate privilege of being the longtime girlfriend of Christopher Moltisanti. As a relative of the DiMeo crime family, this life isn't new to her, but she has no interest in being a mobster herself. Although she keeps her distance from the mob, unfortunately, it only takes one mistake for her life to come crashing down because of it.
Maika Monroe might be more famous for her horror stints, but she's got experience playing someone who keeps an arm's length from crime. As McKayla Strawberry in Hot Summer Nights and Jules in Villains, Monroe has played characters who only dabble a bit in criminal activity to support their ambitions, but ultimately become victims of it.
Honorable mention: Juno Temple (although more famous for her bubbly role in Ted Lasso, she's capable of playing tragic characters like her performance in Fargo).
Bobby Cannavale: Silvio Dante
Image via HBOSilvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) might be Tony's consigliere, but he's always been a trusted friend to Tony. Unlike a yes-man, Silvio is willing to be straight with Tony when things go awry, which Tony highly appreciates. Amidst the dryness of mob life, Silvio is the one who brings the jokes, most notably through his Al Pacino impression.
Bobby Cannavale has his comedic chops from his time on Will and Grace. As for his Mafia credentials, he's played everyone from the strong and aggressive Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire to the more understated Felix "Skinny Razor" DiTullio in The Irishman, who, just like Silvio, isn't outwardly aggressive. However, all it takes is for him to deliver one simple line to instantly command full authority.
Honorable mention: Giancarlo Esposito (he's witty yet calculating like his performances in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul).
Kevin Corrigan: Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri
Image via NBCPaulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) is the senior capo in the DiMeo crime family. Having been around since Tony's father was in charge, Paulie appreciates the old ways of doing things. His tendency toward Mafia etiquette makes him funny amid modernity, but it's also a coping mechanism for someone insecure and afraid of being washed out of the organization.
Kevin Corrigan's previous Mafia roles in Goodfellas and The Departed make him an interesting fit for Walnuts. His deadpan performance as Michael Hill shows he can create comedy through understated reactions, while Sean Costigan gives him experience playing a small-time criminal. Together, these roles could capture Paulie's paranoid, eccentric personality, which only takes one switch to become genuinely violent.
Honorable mention: Steve Buscemi (he's played nervous, funny, but dangerous characters like his roles in Boardwalk Empire and Fargo).
The Sopranos
Release Date 1999 - 2007-00-00
Network HBO
Showrunner David Chase
English (US) ·