Fourteen years after the controversial finale to The Sopranos aired, creator David Chase has finally revealed Tony Soprano’s fate. Well, sort of. For those who need a reminder, the final scene featured Tony having a meal with his wife and son in the diner, with his daughter rushing across the street to meet them. The bell above the door rings, Tony looks up, and the screen fades to black.
While it’s not something he’s 100% confirming this to be the case, Chase’s comments seem to strongly suggest that Tony Soprano fate was that he was killed in the diner.
Chase spoke to Scott Feinberg on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter and gave the details of how he intended Tony’s death to play out. The show’s opening credits feature Tony returning to New Jersey from New York. Chase’s original plan for the finale was to have Tony do the reverse. He would go from New Jersey to New York to a meeting where he would be killed.
“But then I had this notion,” Chase said. “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 commented on his frustrations on how people reacted to the finale. He couldn’t understand why people wanted so badly to see Tony Soprano killed off after watching him for seven years. “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.” Chase is certainly not wrong, as many fans saw Tony Soprano as a complex mix of both good and evil, being that he is balancing mob life with being a sincerely devoted family man.
Chase did not flat-out say Tony is dead, but that does seem to be the plan he had. Even Alan Taylor, the director of The Many Saints of Newark, has confirmed that he believes Tony died.
Fans of The Sopranos, we want to hear from you. Are these comments from David Chase confirmation of Tony Soprano’s death? Is that what you’ve thought this whole time? Do you think his family survived the incident? How do you think they’d be coping all these years later? Talk to us in the comments.
