For over a decade, fans of The Sopranos have been questioning the meaning of the show's finale and the fate of the main character Tony Soprano.
The Sopranos spanned around eight years (1999-2007) for six seasons and 86 episodes. For the show's finale titled "Made in America," the episode cuts to black, leaving fans in suspense as to what actually happens with the main character.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from Nov. 2, the creator and writer of the show David Chase gave insight to that mystery.
After the reporter inquired about his feelings towards fans' reaction to the finale, Chase responded by saying: "Yeah, nobody said anything about the episode. No, it was all about the ending. I had no idea it would cause that much — I mean, I forget what was going on in Iraq or someplace; London had been bombed! Nobody was talking about that; they were talking about The Sopranos. It was kind of incredible to me. But I had no idea it would be that much of an uproar. And was it annoying? What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. That bothered me."
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He went on to explain that it irked him how much fans wanted to see Tony Soprano killed. He wondered how so many people could want that for a figure they loved so much. He continued by essentially confirming Tony's fate: "They wanted to know that Tony was killed. They wanted to see him go face-down in linguini, you know? And 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. And now you want to see him killed? You want justice done? You’re a criminal after watching this shit for seven years.” That bothered me, yeah."
The interview also touched on the new prequel movie to The Sopranos titled The Many Saints of Newark, which released on Oct. 1. The film received a mixed reception, debuting at a disappointing fourth place at the box office in its first week. The Many Saints of Newark grossed 50% less in its first week than projected.
The film was released through WarnerMedia and came out both in theaters and on HBOMax. In the interview Chase expressed his displeasure with this decision from WarnerMedia, as he wanted all fans to experience the movie in theaters: "Oh, I think it’s disgusting. And there’s all kinds of reasons for it, which you kind of can’t argue. But what they could have done was give every movie a four-week theatrical window, or a two-week window, or a one-week window, and then go on TV. But that was not their idea."
Since he has inked a deal with WarnerMedia, Chase revealed the network urged him to release another show that picks up where The Many Saints of Newark left off: "Well, of course, the movie didn’t do well in theaters, but it, like, broke the machine on streaming — it was huge. So now they want me to do another series of Sopranos from the time the movie ends until the time the series begins."
What did you think about what David Chase had to say?
[Via]