The final episode of ‘The Sopranos’ series keeps the fans speculating to date, thanks to the ambiguity over what happened to Tony Soprano.
Tony Soprano is an Italian-American mobster and the leader of a crime organization. ‘The Sopranos’ series revolves around the life of Tony Soprano and how he balances his family life and criminal life. He is responsible for several murders onscreen, 8 personally, while the others were carried out on his orders. Indisputably, he has acquired lots of enemies throughout his journey, who now conspire to get him killed. Who are these people and did they manage to kill him?
Highlights —
- ‘The Sopranos’: Tony Soprano murder suspects?
- Who killed Tony Sopranos?
- So … did Tony die or not?
When David Chase accidentally revealed the truth about Tony’s murder in ‘The Sopranos’.
‘The Sopranos’: Tony Soprano murder suspects?
In ‘The Sopranos’ Season 1, Tony Soprano is attacked by two hitmen – William Johnson “Petite” Clayborn and Rasheen Ray – sent by Donnie Paduana to execute Tony. Later, in the sixth season, he is shot by Junior Soprano in the abdomen because he is suffering from dementia and mistakes Tony for Gennaro “Little Pussy” Malanga. In the finale, a man in a member’s only jacket emerges from the bathroom to shoot Tony in the head, Godfather style. Though the clues are not abundant, it is a fact that somebody wants Tony dead.
Who killed Tony Soprano?
We don’t know! We really don’t know and that’s the genius of it. With the screen cut to black at the end of the final episode, it is left up to your interpretations. A suspicious guy is lurking in the restaurant but does he kill him? Well, there’s nothing we can say! In ‘The Sopranos’ finale, Tony is waiting for his daughter to arrive at the restaurant for a family dinner, and as soon as she steps in the restaurant, Tony looks up, the camera zooms in on his face, and then BLACKOUT.
The show’s creator didn’t want the audience to admire Tony’s character. Despite Tony being a murderer, somehow people still liked him. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Tony was whacked. Though it’s not standard mob practice to whack someone in front of their families, the suspicious guy might not have waited for Tony to go out for a smoke or to use the bathroom.
Maybe fading the screens to black was the creator’s idea of depicting the protagonist’s death, or maybe not! Now whacked Tony will forever remain a question open to the interpretations of different people.
Even after a decade of ‘The Sopranos’ finale, we don’t know if Tony died or survived.
So … did Tony die or not?
He may have. At least, that’s what the creator accidentally confirmed. Over the years, fans have debated over what exactly happened at the diner. Some of ‘The Sopranos’ fans believe that Tony is dead, while there are others who believe the contrary. However, David Chase in a 2019 interview accidentally revealed that Tony was murdered at the diner.
The exchange went as follows:
“When you said there was an endpoint, you don’t mean Tony at Holsten’s, you just meant, ‘I think I have two more years’ worth of stories left in me'”, Sepinwall asked.
“Yes, I think I had that death scene around two years before the end. I remember talking with Mitch Burgess about it, but it wasn’t – it was slightly different. 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.”
Zoller Seitz then chimed in to point out that Chase had just referred to the infamous final scene as a “death scene” – seeming to confirm that Tony does die. After a long pause, Chase replied, “(expletive) you guys”, and all three of them burst into laughter. Here’s a sneak into the final scene of the series!
There are very few shows that captivate the audiences the way ‘The Sopranos’ has done. Even though the series has ended more than a decade ago, there are still fan discussions about the show. What do you think? Is Tony dead or is it yet another stunt by the creator to attract more publicity? Let us know what you think in the comments.
