In 2004 Random House published a sequel to the classic novel The Godfather called The Godfather Returns by Mark Winegardner. This novel expands after the ending of the first film and novel and continue through the second film and beyond. The novel have met significant praise and criticism from fans of the original novel and films. Since the novel have been reviews dozens of times on dozens of posts on this message board, I will merely add my take of the novel and its sequel and future implications for this classic saga.

The Good:

Winegardner does an admirable job in tackling the world that Mario Puzo created. My favorite part of the novel is the expanded back-story that Winegardner gave to Michael. I felt this section develop Michael's character further and show why he want to get away from his family and father to be his own person. Furthermore Winegardner did a good job in expanding and in describing the world that Corlones lived and control.

The Bad:
In Winegardner defense, he had to deal with the fact that no matter how good his work is there would be fans who will never like it. He did what he could to follow the spirit of The Godfather novel and films, but he falls shorts in many instances. My major problem with the sequel is to used a phase "mixing the canon." The sequel mixing original novel and first film, which cause me some confusion. Although Weingardner had to used the first novel template for the sequels at least, he should have disregarded the last chapter of the novel, in which Kay have a discussion with Tom and decide to return to Michael. This ending chapter left no real room for a sequel, but the movie ending did. Weingarder should have just used the ending of first film since that the ending that most people know about as the jumping off point for the sequels. For me the original novel existed in a "separate universe" and should be left by itself. Also revelation that Fredo was a gay was a bit contrived. I always felt in reading the original novel that Fredo was merely weak-willed and completely devoted to his father that did not mean he was gay, he was just the black sheep of the family. Furthermore, the implication that Fredo was molested by a priest does not seem believable to me giving the time and environment in which Fredo grew up in. Immigrant Italian-Sicilian communities living in New York City in the early 20th century would be suspicious of everyone including the Catholic Church, and they would not allowed a priest to do such a thing, he would have been killed. Furthermore, Don Corleone himself with all his intelligence, power, and influence would have figure out what what was going on with his son. Also expanding on the Johnny Fontane character and other secondary characters such Francesca seemed to be unnecessary because the Godfather novel and films is about Michael, he is the main character and yet most of the sequels focus on his arch enemy Nick Geraci. This underdevelopment of Michael in the this sequel and the Godfather Revenge, leaves both of them rather dulled.

The Future:
So why did Random House commission two novel sequels in which the main character is grossly underdeveloped? My answer is two words: Paramount Pictures. Paramount owns the rights to the Godfather and it also owns the rights to any future projects including the two squeals to be made into films. I would not doubt for a moment that Paramount executives might have strongly suggested to Weingardner don't develop Michael's character too much in the novels because he we want to develop him in the films based on these novels. The logic behind this we want audiences to pay see Michael again in the theaters to see his further development. According to several reports Paramount is currently adapting the sequel novels to be on the silver screen. The Godfather Revenge may suggest that Paramount is also looking even further. Although I have not read the second sequel, I understand that novel timeline is only from 1963 to 1964. This leave a 15 year gap before the start of The Godfather Part III. This gap may suggest the possibility of another novel or more likely another movie, which means that Paramount hopes to make another trilogy. This would make the Godfather very similar to Paramount most other successful franchise, which "Boldy goes where no man has gone before."