Tony Soprano is one of the greatest and most complex TV characters ever. He’s a mafia boss, but he’s also a human being with a great deal of emotional complexity, baggage, and childhood trauma. It was a great pleasure watching James Gandolfini bring this unique character to life. But did Tony Soprano die at the end of The Sopranos? What happened to him, and what does the ending of the show represent?
There are still so many questions surrounding The Sopranos’ ending. In this article, we’re going to unpack the most memorable and mysterious ending that has ever been written. So, let’s dive in!
What Happened at the End of The Sopranos?
Credit: The Sopranos
If you’re a fellow The Sopranos enthusiast, you probably remember all the details of the show finale. Let’s face it, it was truly an unforgettable and remarkable experience watching the intense diner scene, especially for the first time. So what exactly happened?
In the final scene, Tony goes out to a diner with his wife Carmela and their son Anthony Junior. They chat with each other casually, just like a normal family does, while waiting for their daughter Meadow to join them. We watch them look at the menu as we watch Meadow rush to the diner. These two scenes switch back and forth for a few minutes.
Also, there are a bunch of other people around the Soprano family in the diner. As Tony looks around him, we catch a glimpse of a sketchy-looking guy in the back. Tony looks a bit suspicious but, at the same time, totally normal. We feel the tension rising, but we’re still not sure what’s happening.
As Meadow is about to walk into the diner, Tony looks up, and all of a sudden, the screen cuts to black. The end.
We still get goosebumps thinking about these final moments of the show. It’s so genius, mysterious, and incredibly directed that we still can’t wrap our minds around it.
So what happened? Did Tony Soprano die? And if he did, then who killed him?
Does Tony Soprano Die at the End?
Credit: The Sopranos
After many speculations about the show’s ending, the director David Chase decided to finally speak up about it. In one of his interviews, he said, “I had no idea it would cause that much … of an uproar.”
Then, he continues, “What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. They wanted to see him go face-down in linguini, you know? That bothered me.”
As he goes on to explain, this wasn’t how he originally planned for the show to end. Although he did plan to kill Tony at the end of the show, it wasn’t supposed to be this way at all.
Instead, his idea was to have Tony attend an important meeting where he would get killed. Here’s what Chase says, “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.”
Because of Chase’s appreciation for his character, he couldn’t do that to him. So he let us speculate and wonder forever instead.
He says, “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.”
Who Killed Tony Soprano?
Credit: The Sopranos
If the ending is open to interpretation and there’s a huge chance that Tony Soprano is killed, then the question on everyone’s minds is: who killed him? The truth is: we’ll never know. Just like we don’t know if he was really killed, we’ll never know who did it.
Tony had a lot of enemies. A lot! His job was risky, stressful, and dangerous – and that’s an understatement. He could have been killed by just about anyone in his closest circle, and it wouldn’t come as a shock to us. That was, sadly, just the nature of his job.
We can go on and on about the ending of The Sopranos, but one thing’s for sure: Tony’s destiny will go down in history as one of the most mysterious and mind-boggling ones on television.he couldn’t do that to him
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