Steve Schirripa Reveals the One Thing Everyone in theSopranosCast Was 'Really Scared' About (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Steven Schirripa and James Gandolfini in a 2005 episode of ‘The Sopranos’.Photo:HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock

HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock

Steve Schirripahad a very relatable fear during his tenure onThe Sopranos.

The actor tells PEOPLE exclusively, whileteaming up with Freshpet, about how he and otherSopranoscostars anticipated getting killed off the mobster television series with almost every episode.

“We really were scared. I always said, you know, you get the script, you look at the front to see if you’re in it, go to the back to see if they were gonna kill you off,” Schirripa, 67, says.

“And it was a real concern, honestly, with all of us, except forJim [James Gandolfini], of course, because the show couldn’t go on with anyone but [him].”

(Warning: light spoilers ahead.)

Steve Schirripa in 2024.Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

TheBlue Bloodsactor also speaks about what it’s like being part of theSopranoslegacy, 26 years after it first premiered. “When you step away from it, you say, wow, I can’t believe I was a part of this just wonderful, incredible, smart show.”

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He says that he had originally watched the show when it would air every week, and hadn’t revisited it until he worked on hisTalking Sopranospodcastwith costarMichael Imperioli.

“Willie Boy, who’s eating Freshpet for the last couple of years, and they sent me the script over and after playing the detective for the last nine years [onBlue Bloods], it was fun to slip back into that oldSopranosmode, and I thought it was really smart, really clever, and [a] really funny commercial.”

source: people.com