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.
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 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.
