Summary:
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A new “Godfather” novel, “Connie,” follows Don Vito’s daughter and is set for release in fall 2027.
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Paramount Pictures has film rights, allowing a movie adaptation without Coppola’s involvement.
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Author Adriana Trigiani’s book focuses on Connie’s journey to establish her identity in the Corleone world.
A new chapter of “The Godfather” is heading to bookshelves and likely to the big screen.
Random House has acquired “Connie,” a novel authorized by the Mario Puzo estate and written by bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, with a fall 2027 release planned. The book retells the Corleone saga from the perspective of Don Vito’s only daughter, Connie, played by Talia Shire in Francis Ford Coppola’s original trilogy. It is the third “Godfather” novel approved by the estate and the first written by a woman.
Paramount Pictures holds the screen rights, the result of a 2012 settlement that ended a legal fight with the Puzo estate. Under the agreement, the estate can continue greenlighting new books while Paramount automatically gains film rights to anything it publishes, putting a movie adaptation on a clear path even without a formal announcement.
That path will not include Coppola. A representative for the 87-year-old filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter it is “unlikely” he will return to direct another entry in the franchise.
Trigiani, known for “The Shoemaker’s Wife,” said the book centers on a character long sidelined in the saga. “‘Connie’ is a novel about how a woman works to forge her own way in a world that’s already decided who she is, what she’s about, and how she should be treated,” she said in a statement. “People underestimated Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone at their peril. The same will be true for Connie Corleone.”
Anthony Puzo, the late author’s son and executor of the estate, said the family sought out Trigiani after reading an essay she wrote about the underexamined women of the Corleone universe. Random House won the project in an eight-way auction, per THR.
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The original “Godfather” trilogy has earned more than $400 million worldwide and won nine Academy Awards. The last installment, “The Godfather Part III,” arrived in 1990.
