David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, has opened up about the iconic, controversial ending of the hit series, and what he originally had in mind for the fate of Tony Soprano.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chase has finally revealed what was originally going to happen at the end of The Sopranos series finale, when he got the idea for the final ending, and why some of the fan reaction annoyed him.
This story contains spoilers for the final scene of The Sopranos – if you, like many others, are on your first viewing, turn back now.
As a refresher, The Sopranos ended with a scene in which James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano waits for his family in a diner. After family members and unknown characters gradually enter the restaurant, and one shady figure heads to the bathroom, the diner door's bell rings, Tony looks up, and the show abruptly cuts to black.
As it turns out, Chase's original plan for the ending was more clear-cut. “The scene I had in my mind was not that scene,” he said of the ending. “Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed.”
While some showrunners know exactly how they’ll end their show from the very beginning, Chase admits that The Sopranos ending came a lot later.
“I was driving on Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport, and I saw a little restaurant,” he explained. “It was kind of like a shack that served breakfast. And for some reason I thought, ‘Tony should get it in a place like that’. Why? I don’t know. That was, like, two years before.”
Although The Sopranos ended in 2007, the series has seen a resurgence following The Many Saints of Newark – a prequel film penned by Chase himself.
But when it comes to The Sopranos, the ending still dominates the conversation, something that clearly bothers Chase.
“Yeah, nobody said anything about the episode,” he said. “No, it was all about the ending.”
“I had no idea it would cause that much— I mean, I forget what was going on in Iraq or someplace; London had been bombed! Nobody was talking about that; they were talking about The Sopranos. It was kind of incredible to me. But I had no idea it would be that much of an uproar. And was it annoying? What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. That bothered me.”
Ever since the final episode aired in 2007, the infamous cut-to-black moment had sparked debate among fans as to whether Tony was dead or not – and whether a death should have been shown onscreen. Many Sopranos fans wanted to see Tony’s demise for themselves – something which has long irritated Chase.
“They wanted to know that Tony was killed. They wanted to see him go face-down in linguini, you know? And I just thought, ‘God, you watched this guy for seven years and I know he’s a criminal. But don’t tell me you don’t love him in some way, don’t tell me you’re not on his side in some way. And now you want to see him killed? You want justice done? You’re a criminal after watching this shit for seven years’. That bothered me, yeah.”
The Sopranos fans are finally getting some of their questions answered, with The Many Saints of Newark finally revealing who killed Dickie Moltisanti. And with a new prequel series reportedly in the works, it looks as though The Sopranos is picking up steam once more.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
