BREAKING NEWS: Steve Schirripa Reflects on Returning to Sopranos Universe if James Gandolfini Were Alive.giang

Steve Schirripa might not be returning to The Sopranos universe anytime soon.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE while teaming up with Freshpet, Schirripa, 67, shares if he would ever revisit the Sopranos universe of mobsters and gabagool.

“Well, I think we would have, to be honest, if Jim [James Gandolfini] didn’t pass away,” he says. “I think we’re too old now. I think we could have … and I think Jim was up for it. He said he was because he had to get away from Tony Soprano for a few years.”

“He said, ‘I’ve got to step away’ and he did for about two to three years. I think he would have done it, but now we’re too old, all of us but it was just an incredible legacy to be a part of it,” the Blue Bloods actor continues.

Schirripa appeared on The Sopranos as Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri alongside an all-star cast that included Gandolfini, who died in 2013, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco, to name a few.

Since The Sopranos went off air in 2007, a prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark has been the only addition to the show’s universe — which stars Gandolfini’s son, Michael, as a young Tony Soprano.

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Schirripa also speaks about what it’s like being part of the show’s legacy, more than 25 years after it premiered. “I think it’s, if not the greatest show in TV history, certainly one of them. And I do believe 25 or 50 years from now, they’ll still be watching it.”

“I think it’s so smart, so funny,” he continues, mentioning the podcast Talking Sopranos he did with Imperioli, 58. “I hadn’t watched the show since it started. I would watch it on Sundays like everyone else.”

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He went back to rewatch the show for the podcast and “had a much bigger appreciation for it after I stepped back from it.”

“To get on any TV show is very difficult. To get on that one, it’s like hitting the lottery twice.”

Schirripa appears in a commercial with Freshpet that brings him back into “Sopranos mode.” His dachshund inspired him to work with the brand. “I have a dog, Willie Boy, who’s eating Freshpet for the last couple of years.”

“They sent me the script over and after playing the detective for the last nine years, it was fun to slip back into that old Sopranos mode,” he says, adding, “I thought it was really smart, really clever and really funny commercial.”