After 15 Years: David Chase finally reveals Tony Soprano's fate

One of the greatest mysteries in TV history is finally solved. In a live taping of The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast, The Sopranos creator David Chase shares the original ending of The Sopranos and what really happened to Tony at the end.
(Originally aired on 11.3.2021)

[alexl.]

I like how we got to feel Tony's constant anxiety and paranoia in the final scene.

[kaijessen]

What I loved about the ending was that his waiting in the diner gave us an emotional glimpse into the constant reality of his life. That his life could end at any moment due to his many deadly enemies.

[TheShootingDogs]

One thing for sure, thanks to that ending, it is almost 2022 and the show is still ALIVE.

[blacjackdaniels]

But who killed Him?

Personally I think Carmella was about to start complaining again and he blacked out willfully.

[easypeasy]

To this day, I can't hear Don't Stop Believing without thinking about the last scene. Haunting.

[veldrensavoth]

So in the beginning he thought about killing tony in New York and it was gonna be some violent heroic last stand, bullets flying guns blazing some real halo reach type shit, but then he realized that would be to good for tony. That would be what everybody wanted. No Tony’s death was quick and abrupt and violent. No fighting chance. Cut to black.

[JC-ivqv]

Just finished the entire boxset. WOW. Maybe I would have felt differently about the ending watching it live, but man, the ending hit hard watching everything in its entirety. The whole final episode had me on the edge of my seat. Masterpiece.

[RamnaViaz]

It was a fitting end for Tony, no heroic last stand or dramatic assassination, he didn't deserved that.

[phil]

The ending scene was the most riveting television I've ever seen because you knew an epic show was about to end... I kept checking the clock because I kept thinking there was no way they could land an ending in the seconds they had left with Tony, Carmela and AJ just talking and meadow parking her car

It was brilliant

[AintThatRich]

I think one of the main connections people don't seem to talk about is when Tony is talking to Bobby in the boat and they discuss what it's like to be whacked. "You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right? everything just goes black". It's the perfect seed planted for the finale IMO. We were following Tony and when he died, our portal into the world went black.

[youngw.a.r]

The scene is actually amazing! People were mad at it but it was a way of saying he didn't even see it coming. Everything was all good, eating dinner then bam!! Silence forever and the black screen may represent eternal darkness or Hell for all of the murders he comitted and hits he ordered. It's a way of pointing out that even with all of the luxury that comes with that life, at the end of the day you end up with a bullet in your head in front of your entire family by someone you probably loved like a brother. It wraps the entire series up in the most simple way possible while being controversia as any great ending should be.

[PavyMac]

In retrospect I now believe The Sopranos ending is perfect. Like Tony said many times there is only one way out. I think Mr. Chase left enough ambiguity, that if Mr. Gadolfini hadn’t passed away they could’ve still done something. I cannot believe 20 years later I still enjoy watching this show like it’s brand new.

[LARRYLONGSTRETH]

Chase: at first I was gonna have him get killed in New York
Interviewer: How'd you come up with the alternative?
Chase: I saw a shack-like diner once and thought "Tony should get it in a place like that."
Fans: He still didn't say whether Tony is dead or not!

My God. Yes he did. He may backpedal, but he just did.

[dancolon]

I didn't know this was still a talking point ... there is a scene at the end of the second to last episode that gives a very clear clue that Tony never saw his own death coming. And since the entire series is about Tony ... if he doesn't see it coming, neither does the TV audience since we've lived vicariously through him.

[christophergargaro]

David has said several times for the final scene - “it’s all there” and he’s exactly right.

From the MO guy going into the bathroom like Michael did in Godfather to the picture of the house that represents death when he was in his coma after Junior shot him to the smash cut to black (“probably never see it comin”), it’s literally all there.

Whether or not David outright says “yes, Tony Soprano is executed in the final scene of the show”, it doesn’t matter. The scene is for you to interpret - and I am in firmly in the camp that looking up to the door to see Meadow is the last thing Tony sees alive before he is shot to death by MO guy.

[rs]

Christopher predicted it when he came back from the dead in the hospital…”3 o’ clock.”

[arnesaknussemm]

‘Tony should get it’ and that my friends is the confirmation for what we all knew. Tony got whacked.

[ralphcataldo]

There have been countless references made about the guy wearing the Members Only jacket .Interestingly throughout the series on several occasions when a crime has occurred the blame is pointed at two fictitious “black guys “ however no one has raised the fact that in that final scene two “black guys “ enter the diner ….. just to muddy the waters a little more….brilliant.

[andunar]

I couldn't sleep for a week after the first time seeing the ending. It haunted me for days. I just didn't want to admit he died. When you get that kind of a reaction out of an audience cheering on a sociopathic killer, you know it's a masterpiece. Sopranos are a masterpiece.

[poopydoodie]

David Chase was just on Talking Sopranos this past week and said this quote is totally taken out of context. He said that this was in a lecture setting with a bunch of students and he was describing the two discarded endings that they didn't use and how they arrived at the one they ended up using in the show. This is a one minute clip from an interview/lecture that was obviously longer that that. On the podcast he said he would never reveal Tony's fate one way or the other. It's awesome how after 20 years we're all still talking about it, shows how great it was.