It looks as though Tony Soprano will not be returning to television anytime soon after all. HBO has decided to pass on former mob boss portrayer James Gandolfini’s latest pilot project, Criminal Justice.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the New York-set drama, which was an adaptation of Peter Moffat’s BBC series, is officially dead. Had it squeezed through, it would have followed the latest TV trend of tracking a specific cast through a per-determined amount of episodes before overhauling the actors and roles.
Through two five-part instalments, Criminal Justice would have tracked people on trial for murder, starting with a character played by Ben Whishaw, who wakes up after an all-night bender next to a murdered woman.
The pass is bad news for writer/director Steven Zaillian and scribe Richard Price, who were on board along with actors Rizwan Ahmed, Bill Camp, Peyman Moadi and Poorna Jagannathan.
Gandolfini, whose more recent HBO project was the retelling of the first American reality show via the TV movie Cinema Verite, would have played Jack Stone, a lawyer who often visits the jailhouse in the series for his clients. The actor also served as an executive producer on the 2012 film Hemingway & Gellhorn.
That leaves three undecided projects at the cable station: The Missionary, Buda Bridge and The Leftovers.
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