'The Sopranos' final season may see a few cast members whacked

Steven Van Zandt and Tony Sirico, actors on HBO's "The Sopranos", are still working on their contracts for the last season of the show.

ADVERTISEMENT

The actors, who play wiseguys Silvio Dante and Paulie Walnuts on the show, are asking about $200,000 an episode for the last eight episodes of "The Sopranos." They have said they are prepared to walk from the show if they don't get the right deal, the New York Post reported Thursday.

The cast is scheduled to go back to work next Tuesday for wardrobe fittings and the first script reading for the new season. Filming is set to begin the following week.

If the network and the actors do not have a deal by then, creator David Chase may write them out of the show's final season.

Four other key cast members of the show -- Lorraine Bracco, Aida Turturro, Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler -- either have deals in place or are close to having deals to appear in the last eight episodes, reported the Hollywood Reporter.