Bada bing, bada boom—Tony Soprano's fate has finally been revealed.
After 14 years of speculation, The Sopranos' creator David Chase has officially confirmed, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that Tony did in fact die at the end of the series' finale in 2007. Though the seven-time Emmy Award-winning writer always envisioned killing off Tony, it did not go according to his original plan.
"The scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black," Chase explained of the famously divisive ending, which cuts to black so abruptly, some viewers at the time thought their cable had gone out. "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."
But two years before the finale of the legendary HBO series, Chase had a change of heart while taking a drive. "I saw a little restaurant. It was kind of like a shack that served breakfast," Chase said. "And for some reason I thought, ‘Tony should get it in a place like that.' Why? I don't know."
In the final episode, "Made in America," Tony (James Gandolfini) sits with his family inside Holsten's restaurant, inspired by the one on "Ocean Park Boulevard." After an unknown man walks in and sits at the counter, and Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) enters, the screen cuts to black.
Though Chase anticipated Tony's death, what he didn't expect was the internet chaos that followed. "I had no idea it would cause that much…of an uproar," the series creator said of the cut-to-black ending. "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." Chase may have killed him off the show, but he still doesn't want people to want the mob boss dead. Respect.
We can sleep soundly tonight knowing we finally have the answers we've been seeking for over a decade—especially because a prequel series may just happen. Check out the details here.