HBO’s “The Sopranos” ended almost fifteen years ago with TV’s most famous abrupt cut to black.
The cut, which takes place in the midst of an extended family scene in a diner as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” plays out, has long been debated over the years as it avoids a definitive ending.
Over the years, series creator David Chase has hinted about what happened after. However in a interview with THR this week he finally confirms it – Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is killed in the scene.
He tells the outlet he originally had envisioned a very different ending for the series:
“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.”
Things changed partway through the show’s run when Chase was hit with inspiration:
“But I think I had this notion – I was driving on Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport and I saw a little restaurant. 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.”
Chase also admits that while he wasn’t upset much of the focus of the finale’s chatter was about the ending, he was “bothered” by the fact people were unhappy they didn’t see Tony getting killed:
“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 comments come as Chase’s Sopranos prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” is now out in cinemas and on HBO Max.
