Did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos? | Explained

it remains one of the most controversial and talked about endings in the history of television some people loved it others despised it but the debate still remains what happened to Tony Soprano at the end of The Sopranos did he or didn't he die in an episode directed by Sopranos creator himself David Chase Tony sits with his family at holsten's ice-cream parlor for some onion rings and listens to journey's don't stop believin his daughter meadow struggles to park her car outside to join her family and a mysterious character in a Members Only jacket passes Tony on his way to the bathroom with each jingle of the restaurant door opening Tony glances up to look at who's walked in we can't quite work out why but tension is building something is about to happen and then the door opens Tony looks up and we cut to black just as the words of the song reach don't stop it was a revolutionary ending the kind not seen on the small screen to such an extent it actually had people checking their TVs to make sure nothing had gone wrong so what happened the Tony simply see his daughter walk in and enjoy a family meal for the evening was he shot by the members only guy with the sight of his daughter the very last thing Tony sees before he dies the question as to whether Tony died or not at the end has been hotly debated for over 10 years and surely the definitive answer can only come from the creator of the show David chase but by now Sopranos fans will surely realize that in spite of being dogged on the ending numerous times chase is never going to give a straight answer and regardless of whether Tony died or not that isn't the point he's finished either way maybe he was shot right there and then by the members-only guy and as to who ordered the hit it could have been anyone butchy poorly patsy tony had far too many enemies by the end of the series maybe Noah walked in the restaurant in the end and punched Tony's [ __ ] lights up even if he wasn't immediately killed it's feasible that Tony would you act later on and if not he'd like to go to prison anyway as a result of Carlo testifying and above and beyond any of this tony has fundamentally gone beyond the point of redemption there is no happy arc at the end of the series it has gone from bad to worse and by the end Tony has become soulless and completely sociopathic regardless of whether he died or not Tony is finished in more ways than one in order to possibly come to a conclusion let's collate everything David Chase has said about the ending and see if some kind of resolution can be formed chase was interviewed the day after The Sopranos finale aired and his answer as to what happened was blunt and direct I have no interest in explaining defending reinterpreting or adding to what is there he said no one was trying to be audacious honest to god we did what we thought we had to do no one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking wow this will piss him off people get the impression that you're trying to mess with them and it's not true you're trying to entertain them anybody who wants to watch it it's all there just a few months later The Sopranos the complete book was published and in it chase book again of the ending and to be honest he sounded quite bitter and irritated there was a war going on that week and attempted terror attacks in London he said but these people were talking about onion rings and he rejected the notion that there are hidden clues in the final scene that reveal what happened saying the last episode is no DaVinci Code when it comes to fans analyzing every nook and cranny of the finale to find an answer chase said most of them most of us should have done this kind of thing in high school English class and didn't and he also reiterated that this wasn't some kind of prank or attempt to troll the audience saying why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger five years later and it seemed chase had mellowed in his fury and lightened up when it came to the Sopranos ending when he jokingly compared it with the conker virtual ending of sin field saying sin field they ended it with all of them going to jail now that's the ending we should have had and they should have had ours way it blacked out in a diner chase opened up a lot more on the ending of The Sopranos months later when he was asked about it once promoting his new film not fade away he said people still ask me what happened they don't ask me if Tony's alive or dead but I know that's where it's going my aunt says if I was going to tell you that I would have told you if he didn't die that night he's going to die very soon and the problem is the same there are the number of minutes in life and they go like this he added making a ticking sound they're gone and you don't know when it's coming that's all I wanted to say he elaborated in a further interview Tony was dealing in morality everyday he was dishing out life and death and he was not happy he was getting everything he wanted that guy but he wasn't happy all I wanted to do was present the idea of how short life is and how precious it is the only way I felt I could do that was to rip it away chase his words here are quite suggestive and strengthened the theory that Tony died and he goes on further am I supposed to do a scene an ending which shows that crime doesn't pay while we saw that crime pays we've been seeing that for how many years now in another sense we saw that crime didn't pay because it wasn't making him happy he was an extremely isolated unhappy man and then finally once in a while he will make a connection with his family and be happy there but in this case whatever happened we never got to see the result of that it was torn away from him and from us that sounds pretty conclusive but Chase would go on to throw a spanner in the mix a couple of years later according to Volks writer Martha P watch him son she asked him whether Tony was dead in the finale and he shook his head and simply said no he isn't so it looks like the previous interviews weren't conclusive and it turns out Tony isn't dead after all but wait there's more because shortly after that Entertainment Weekly published a statement from Chase via his represent saying a journalist for Fox misconstrued what David Chase said in the interview to simply quote David as saying Tony Soprano is not dead is inaccurate there is a much larger context for that statement and as such it is not true as David Chase has said numerous times on the record whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point to continue to search for this answer is fruitless the final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer and just days after the apparent conversation with not Simpson che said I don't recall that conversation I'm sure it happened but I don't recall it and if I did say that I believe I was probably thinking about something else perhaps the most interesting thing Chase has ever said about The Sopranos ending one that is more revealing than any other statement is the most recent one made when speaking with soprano sessions co-creator Matt Zoller Seitz Chase was talking about the ending and he said I think I had that death scene around two years before the end Tony was going to get called to a meeting with Johnny Sack in Manhattan and he was going to go back through the Lincoln Tunnel for this meeting and it was going to go black there and you never saw him again as he was heading back the theory being that something bad happens to him at the meeting but we didn't do that Seitz then said to chase you realize of course that you just refer to that as a death scene and after a pause chase replied [ __ ] you guys with the loss and then he added I changed my mind over time I didn't want to do a straight death scene I didn't want you to feel like oh he's meeting with Johnny Sack and he's going to get killed that's the truth of it so it looks like the ending of The Sopranos is cleared up then with Chase accidentally letting slip that Tony dies at the end but hold your horses because cites revealed that he asked changed to clarify his comments and chase said that the death scene he was referring to was not the diner scene at the end but an earlier idea that he had abandoned and he added I seriously doubt that's going to dissuade anybody from believing whatever it they already believe if the last 12 years have taught us anything it's that to misquote a famous Simon & Garfunkel song a Sopranos fan will hear what he wants to hear and disregard the rest there's also one more interview where DG a quarterly sat down with Chase and he went through the ending scene he said when it's over I think you're probably always blindsided by it that's all I can say the last shot of Tony ends on don't stop it's mid song I'm not going to go into if that's Tony's point of view I just thought the possibility would go through a lot of people's minds or maybe everybody's mind that he was killed he might have gotten shot three years ago in that situation but he didn't whether this is the end here or not it's going to come at some point for the rest of us I thought the ending would be somewhat jarring sure but not to the extent it was and not a subject of such discussion I really had no idea about that I never considered the black eye short I just thought what we see is black the ceiling I was going for that point the biggest feeling I was going for honestly was don't stop believin it was very simple and much more on the nose than people think that's what I wanted people to believe that life ends and death comes but don't stop believing life is short either it ends here for Tony or some other time but in spite of that it's really worth it so don't stop believing so when you listen to chase talk about the ending of The Sopranos when you put it all together all the separate interviews he's done he does seem to tend to lean on the idea that Tony dies at the end but saying that he often reiterates that whether Tony dies or not is not the point whether he died that night on some other night either way it's over for him and it happens to all of us at some point David Chase is also spearheading a new movie set in The Sopranos universe a prequel to the show which will feature a young Tony Soprano alongside many returning characters from the show maybe there will be some clues as to how Tony ended up in the movie but it's unlikely so what did you think are you in the camp of people who feel he died do you think Tony went on to live as the boss of New Jersey let me know in the comments below and thanks for watching

Channel: CineRanter

Views: 113,233

Keywords: david chase, tony soprano, the sopranos, the sopranos ending, sopranos ending, james gandolfini, what happened at the end of the sopranos, the sopranos final shot, David chase sopranos ending, did tony soprano die?, young tony soprano, many saints of newark, michael gandolfini, david chase interview, david chase explains sopranos ending, david chase many saints of newark, david chase tony soprano death, david chase sopranos, newark 2020, the sopranos ending explained

Id: 4EPN3l847tM

Length: 11min 21sec (681 seconds)

Published: Mon May 18 2020