The Sopranos finale had a different ending; here's what would've happened

Despite The Sopranos' legacy of kicking off TV's second golden age, it also has one of the most debated season finales. In the closing moments of the iconic HBO crime drama, we see Tony, Carmela, and A.J. sitting at a diner, waiting for Meadow, who is just outside trying to park her car. However, the entire scene is staged in a way that something feels off.

We see numerous unknown and possibly shady individuals inside and entering the diner. Meanwhile, Meadow attempts to park her car multiple times before finally managing to do so. The last time we see her, we see her running on the street towards the diner door. But we don't see her entering the diner or even close to the door.

We hear the diner door open and hear the bell dinging, and Tony looks up at a mysterious figure, and the screen cuts to black, bringing The Sopranos to a close. These closing minutes are still hotly debated amongst TV fans, even eighteen years after the finale's airing. In November 2021, showrunner David Chase revealed that his initial idea for The Sopranos finale would've seen Tony meet his end.

In 2021, David Chase revealed how the original ending of The Sopranos would've seen Tony die:

David Chase, the showrunner of the iconic HBO show, sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that was published on November 2, 2021. In this interview, Chase went into detail about his experience writing The Sopranos and revealed his initial idea for the finale. Chase's exact words were:

"Because the scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. 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."

This initial idea would have given fans the definitive conclusions that they were looking for; however, we did not get that. Instead, we got a more open-ended finale, which aligns with Tony's choice to stick to the criminal underworld. When The Hollywood Reporter interviewer asked Chase the inspiration behind the finale that made it to the screen, the showrunner responded:

"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."

David Chase speaks about the popular reaction to the finale:

In the same interview, The Sopranos showrunner spoke about how people reacted to the finale. Chase especially pointed out how people just focused on the closing minutes of the finale instead of the rest of the episode:

"Yeah, nobody said anything about the episode. No, it was all about the ending."

Thus, it becomes clear that Chase's intention behind the finale was to show what life would be like for Tony from that moment. Maybe there was an attack, or there was none. But Tony's decision to continue leading a life of crime would mean that he would have to be paranoid for the rest of his life, and that was the point of the finale.

Trending

What do you think of this idea? All episodes of the series are accessible via streaming on HBO Max.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback