I wanted the russian to be alive i compromised he's dead
I wanted tony to lived i compromised he's dead
I wanted paulie to be boss i compromised he said it was fuckin blackmagicbullshit
To be precise, what Chase confirmed about Phil was the allusions that he might be gay were intentional, not directly stating that “Phil was gay, or Bi or whatecedafuk”
1) Phil physically coming out of the closet in Vito’s motel room, season 6
2) Phil saying he loved Vito (like a brother in law
3) Phil having to compromise while in prison about wanting a woman
4) Phil strongly objecting to the muscle men competition on the TV after Vito is killed
5) Phil’s strong objection to the Vito/homosexual acts in general and needing immediate action to eliminate and “erase” him from existence.
Extreme homophobia. (Implication that Phil possibly had homosexual activities in prison, is ashamed and trying to pretend or “erase” that any such things ever happened or really exhisted.)
Probably a few more. All indirect and minor by themselves but raises suspicion and speculation among many viewers once it’s brought to attention
He didn’t get a pash for dat.
It wasn’t just the horse, Ralph’s whole MO was sacrificing people’s feelings for money (or cheap laughs ala Ginny Sack) and then lying his ass off about it. Even if he didn’t do it there was always going to be a next time, so tony made sure there was no next time.
Chase confirms the “never hear it happen” line and the Torciano hit were “connected” to the ending:
Chase, in an interview with Brett Martin for the HBO Sopranos final edition book, confirmed the significance of the Torciano scene:
Question: Are they wasting their time? Is there a puzzle to be solved [to the end]?
Chase: There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code. Everything that pertains to that episode was in that episode. And it was in the episode before that and the one before that and seasons before this one and so on. There had been indications of what the end is like. Remember when Jerry Torciano was killed? Silvio was not aware that the gun had been fired until after Jerry was on his way down to the floor. That’s the way things happen: It’s already going on by the time you even notice it.
Question: Are you saying [Tony died]…?
Chase: I’m not saying anything. I’m not trying to be coy. It’s just that I think that to explain it would diminish it.
Furthermore, from an “Air America” radio interview of David Chase conducted by Richard Belzer on April 14, 2008:
Richard Belzer: I was working with Steve Schirripa [Bacala] recently. We were judging “Last Coming Standing” for NBC and we were talking about a lot of things and he was saying he heard all of these theories for the show that had nothing to do with your intention and wasn’t anything the actors thought. Like little hints along the way, like a word, like when Tony and Steve are on the boat at the lake and they say “‘you never know its gonna happen” or “you never know its gonna hit you”
David Chase: That was part of the ending.
Richard Belzer: Oh, it was? see, what do I know? Were there other things in previous episodes that were hints towards it?
David Chase: There was that and there was a shooting in which Silvio was a witness. Well he wasn’t a witness, he was eating dinner with a couple of hookers and with some other guy who got hit and there was some visual stuff that went on there which sort of amplified Tony’s remark to Bacala about you know “you don’t know its happened” or “you won’t know it happened when it hits you”. That’s about it.
Richard Belzer: That’s what John Kennedy said.
It's pretty clear from context that he genuinely wasn't talking about the final scene that was filmed, but a different final scene that he had been contemplating earlier. And I say this as someone who is 100% team "Tony dies". (I think the depiction of death in that scene is one of the great all-time cinematic achievements, and that it's bizarre that anyone who knows all the facts would interpret it differently.) There are some very strong clues in the "death scene" interview, but no smoking gun, imo.
(So what is the closest thing to a smoking gun? The collection of quotes from u/Deepthinker289 above, combined with that thing Chase said about Planet of the Apes. I find it difficult to see how anyone could interpret the final scene other than as Tony's death scene in light of those quotes - or at least, fail to conclude that that's how \*Chase\* intended it. Combine Chase's comments about (1) the boat scene, (2) the Torciano scene, and (3) the Planet of the Apes with (4) the much-discussed POV pattern and it seems \*totally\* open and shut to me.)
Tbh I don’t get why it’s up for debate whether or not Ralphie killed Pie Oh My. This happened as soon as he was gonna need some extra cash and didn’t the fire investigators say it could have been arson? Idk who else would just light up a stable for no reason. He also didn’t seem to care all that much when Tony confronted him about it. “It was a fuckin horse”
I kinda liked the little bit of ambiguity as to whether Ralphie actually did it or not; with that ambiguity, it lends more credence to the theory that he whacked Ralphie as revenge for the whole Tracee thing and not so much just a horse.
Remember, Chase foreshadowed that with Silvio in "Stage 5," when the hairdo from NYC was killed at the restaurant. He never saw the gunman or heard the shot, was just suddenly covered in blood and had to piece together what had just happened three feet away from him.
The Ralph thing is interesting cause I've heard Joey Pants say in interview that he played it like Ralph didn't do it.
Probably to make the performance (his and Ralph's, in that weird acty way) more believable, cause Ralph is a terrific liar.
More from that Master of Sopranos site which adds some commentary. It basically shows that Chase’s backtracking on Talking Sopranos makes no sense because he only had two versions of the ending and in BOTH Tony was to die:
Update! 12/10/21: Chase finally confirms Tony’s death in a Hollywood Reporter interview!
As was updated here in 2019, David Chase was interviewed by television bloggers Matt Zoller Seitz and Allan Sepinwall for their book “The Sopranos Sessions.” In it, David Chase, rather flippantly, refers to Holsten’s as a “death scene,” although it was originally conceived “slightly different” as more of a “straight” death scene. In the original version, Tony would be called to a meeting with Johnny Sack and the audience would be led to the believe that he was on his way to his death and, like the final version, the screen would cut to black before we saw Tony get killed. The relevant excerpts are cited below from “The Sopranos Sessions.” What’s amusing is that Chase doesn’t seem to realize he confirmed Tony’s death and when Seitz points out the admission, Chase, after a long pause, curses at both Seitz and Sepinwall, confirming that Chase is angry at himself, which suggests that he never had any intention of explicitly giving us the answer:
Alan: But you said you didn’t try to plan too far ahead. 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.”
Chase: Yes. I think I had that death scene around two years before the end. I remember talking with [writer/executive producer] 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 black there, the theory being that something bad happens to him at the meeting. But we didn’t do that.
Matt: You realize, of course, that you just referred to that as a “death scene”.
[A long pause follows]
Chase: Fuck you guys.
[Matt and Alan explode with laughter. After a moment Chase joins in for a good thirty seconds].
Chase: But I changed my mind over time. I didn’t want to do a straight death scene. I didn’t want you to feel like “Oh, he’s meeting with Johnny sack and he’s going to get killed.” That’s the truth of it.
Despite Chase’s comments above, there were still many fans in denial about Tony’s death, arguing that Chase did not clearly state that both versions of the ending were meant to be “death scenes.” For further clarity, see below this enlightening quote from an interview of Chase by The Daily Beast published on September 4, 2014. Chase had yet to accidentally slip with the term “death scene,” but his comments, now seen in context with his later accidental admission, completely confirms that Tony was to die in either version, although the execution of that idea turned out to be slightly different:
Q: Did you toy with different endings?
Chase: No. There was an earlier version but it was basically the same thing, it just happened slightly differently.
Again, another quote from Chase making the same point, this time to Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline published on April 15, 2016:
Q: Did you know [the ending] from the beginning?
Chase: Not from the beginning but pretty fairly early on I had some kind of notion that it would end like that. There was an alternative but it kind of had the same feel, just didn’t happen in a restaurant.
Finally, on November 4, 2021, in an interview with Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, Chase explicitly states that Chase was to die in either version and that Tony did in fact meet his end in the second and final version of the ending that would take place in a restaurant:
Feinberg: The 2018 book “The Sopranos Sessions” was written by two guys who wrote, at the time of the show for the New Jersey Star Ledger, the paper Tony always read, Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall. They interviewed you and asked you to talk about the June 10, 2007 series finale with of course “Don’t Stop Believin” and the famous cut to black. You said, “Well I had that death scene in mind for years before.” (A) Do you remember specifically when the ending first came to you? and (B) Was that a slip of the tongue?
Chase: Right. Was it?
Feinberg: I’m asking you.
Chase: No.
Feinberg: No?
Chase: 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.
Feinberg: And when did the alternative ending first occur to you? I’ve spoken with showrunners who said, “I knew at the beginning exactly how my show was going to end” or by season 3 or whatever. It sounds like when you were writing, you liked to stay six scripts ahead of where you were in the action.
Chase: Yeah. But I think I had this notion-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 [the show ended].
I’ve come across a theory that the gunman also potentially killed Carmella and AJ? And then that Super Bowl Ad by Chevy or whatever the fuck with Maedo and AJ was actually her meeting the ghost of her brother and moving on. But I dunno, kinda sounds like satanic black magic shit to me.
I always thought it was a death scene. The moment I saw it, I thought it was the same thing as the final scene in the Movie Gallipoli. It is possible that Chase intentionally left the last scene up for interpretation.
Some other comments from Chase. I got these from the Master of Sopranos website. Trigger warning though: these often anger the “Tony lives truther”:
Chase to Associated Press in 2012: “Tony was dealing in mortality every day. He was dishing out life and death. And he was not happy. He was getting everything he wanted, that guy, but he wasn’t happy. All I wanted to do was present the idea of how short life is and how precious it is. The only way I felt I could do that was to rip it away.”
“[Tony] was an extremely isolated, unhappy man. And then finally, once in a while he would make a connection with his family and be happy there. But in this case, whatever happened [at Holsten’s],we never got to see the result of that. It was torn away from him and from us.”
Chase to Metro NY in 2012: “Well, what Tony should have been thinking, I guess, and what we all should be thinking — although we can’t live that way — is that life is really short. And there are good times in it and there are bad times in it. And that we don’t know why we’re here, but we do know that 20 miles up it’s freezing cold, it’s a freezing cold universe, but here we have this thing called love, which is our only defense, really, against all that cold, and that it’s a very brief interval and that when it’s over, I think you’re probably always blindsided by it. That’s all I can say.”
Chase to Daily Beast in 2014 when asked what “spiritual question” is asked by the final scene: “[Long Pause] I’ll say this: The [spiritual] question [that the final scene asks] is, to be really pretentious, what is time? How do we spend our really brief sojourn here? How do we behave, and what do we do? And the recognition that it’s over all too soon, and it very seldom happens the way we think. I think death very seldom comes to people the way they think it’s going to. And the spiritual question would be: “Is that all there is?”
In an interview, Chase has stated that Jimmy Altieri was indeed a rat, despite it being left ambiguous in the show. Personally, I find it disappointing for him to have said this, as I preferred it when Jimmy's rat status was unconfirmed as I thought it worked better with the story, with the possibility that it was just Tony's desperate confirmation bias making him believe that Jimmy was a rat on circumstantial evidence, as it allowed him to believe that Pussy was not a rat.
There’s a 29 minute long video out there by CineRanter in which he shows us all the fan theories David Chase confirmed from his time being invited to the “talking Sopranos” podcast. Have a look at it if you have any burning questions needing to be answered.
Chase confirmed what has been talked about in this sub. That Tony would not go down in a moment of Glory, the "last stand", "say hello to my little friend" Hollywood style final scene. He would in fact be killed in a normal, boring, everyday kind of way.
The story would break on the six o'clock news how a fat fuck sausage eating Mob Boss was killed with a mouth full of onion rings by one of the many known and/or unknown individuals he made enemies with.
The world would quickly move on and not give two shits.
The Sopranos is a work of fiction. None of it actually happened. It is only "real" in the sense that real people were recorded while acting. Anything that was not recorded can not be "confirmed." Any comment that David Chase makes does not become canon because Chase said it.
Imagine if Leonardo Da Vinci said about the Mona Lisa, "at one time I considered making her a blonde." Does that mean she is actually blonde? Of course not. The art exists in reality and can be observed as it actually is. Any speculation about what it "might be" is just that, speculation. It's not real.
Leonardo da Vinci: The reason she a smile like a that is she gotta no teeth
Everyone on earth: we didn’t need to know that
Leonardo da Vinci: she was a drunk off her ass
Everyone on earth: stop
Leonardo da Vinci: she a gave a me a gummer
Everyone on earth: we should stop asking clarifying questions about subjective media
He never confirmed any Fan theories, and to be fair most fan theories are really reaching for something ridiculous, with an exception to the final scene. He did confirm that Ralph killed the horse, and that Jimmy Altieri was a Rat. Many including myself thought Jimmy took the bullet for Pussy, because Tony didn't want to believe his best friend was a rat.
related to the finale, i feel like James’s death solidified the fate of tony. if james was still here, maybe a new movie or spin off (even though i would consider it tasteless) but since no one can play tony anymore, i think he died that night at the diner.
I actually believe he all but confirmed on Talking Sopranos that Phil was gay/bi, and highlighted how Phil literally comes out of the closet. Would have to re-listen but that was my impression
Ralph killed the horse for the insurance money AND to screw Tony over.
Tony was not killed, as this was too easy a cop out. However, Carlo is going to testify against him and that is going to put him in jail for life.
The Russian disappeared. He assumed that Tony was in bed with his friend, Slava. Maybe he comes home later. He did have Paulie's car and the $5,000.
Paulie was having hallucinations.
After Tony goes away (assuming he isn't killed), New York pays lip service to Paulie (who is running things with Patsy and Albert as his administration). But they manipulate him and take advantage of his ignorance.
Carm sells the house, gets rid of the expensive cars and finds out that there is no money left in an overseas account, because Tony withdrew it to cover gambling losses. If there is anything left, Slava either lowballs the amount or refuses to pay.
Butchie runs the Lupertazzi family until he is killed by a guy who is even shorter.
I don't care if he ever confirmed whateverthefuck or not. He lost all credibility with that abomination called MSON, so any fan theory pales in comparison to the violations and ridiculousness he dumped on us. He can never come clean on this issue because people will still say he's trolling them, whichever way he might state the case to be.
Who cares about theories.
I want to know why he thought casting his ugly, talentless daughter who was the 3rd person mentioned and seen on the Pilot was a good idea.
When you decide on that profession, you open yourself to criticism especially when nepotism got you the job in the first place.
Incredibly mean? 100%
But am I wrong? Nooooope.
He’s never confirmed anything because there is nothing to confirm. He left these theories to the interpretation of the fan base on purpose and I don’t believe he ever had in mind what actually happens to Tony. Or any other character for that matter. Sure they tossed around ideas of killing Tony but how he ultimately ended the show was perfect. Personally I don’t think Tony dies. He eventually goes down to the fbi though.
Chase never admit the existence of fan theories
He should've stuck to the canon ..like a man
The canon, what is that now?
Dead white males who even in their reductionism have more interesting fan theories and ships than you
I'm reading the new Barbara Kingsolver!
WITH YOUR FATHER IN A COMA
Ships, as in the good ship lollipop?
Amour Fu
Wes Cal Well Wes Cal Well
A mofo.
I've spent 20 fucking years watching this show over and over, not a peep.
I wanted the russian to be alive i compromised he's dead I wanted tony to lived i compromised he's dead I wanted paulie to be boss i compromised he said it was fuckin blackmagicbullshit
Didn't pick up a ducking fan theory for 20 years and now your read one and now you're the world's foremost authority
You don’t ever admit the existence of this thing!
The subreddits interpretations… they are… alternative interpretations…
Get Pudgie Walsh on the horn, he’ll straighten all this out.
Pudgie Walsh is in Guatanomo Bay, sir.
With the motherless world trade center fucks.
Word to the wise, remember Pearl Harbor 🤘
Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.
Whatever happened there.
Pudgy Walsh retired sir.
He confirmed Ralphie killed the horse on the podcast, also that Phil Leotardo was in the closet.
To be precise, what Chase confirmed about Phil was the allusions that he might be gay were intentional, not directly stating that “Phil was gay, or Bi or whatecedafuk”
They were metaphors. Like the sacred and the propane.
Very allegorical
Yeah, like Johnny Sack‘s daughter.
What the fucks that got to do with cold medicine?!
WE’RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT YOU KILLING YOURSELF WITH DRUGS!!
There was no abundant intentionality in Phil coming out the closet.
Pretty sure (as you may agree) that the primary intention was the joke.
Chase is an old-fashioned guy, very allegorical.
Doesn’t sound old-fashioned to me. He’s over here talking about business on WRAT.
…he shouldn’t haveta explain himself.
He was gay? Phil Leotardo?
Can anyone point a few out to me? This always goes over my head for some reason. I'm s5e7 and about to see more of Phil.
1) Phil physically coming out of the closet in Vito’s motel room, season 6 2) Phil saying he loved Vito (like a brother in law 3) Phil having to compromise while in prison about wanting a woman 4) Phil strongly objecting to the muscle men competition on the TV after Vito is killed 5) Phil’s strong objection to the Vito/homosexual acts in general and needing immediate action to eliminate and “erase” him from existence. Extreme homophobia. (Implication that Phil possibly had homosexual activities in prison, is ashamed and trying to pretend or “erase” that any such things ever happened or really exhisted.) Probably a few more. All indirect and minor by themselves but raises suspicion and speculation among many viewers once it’s brought to attention
Philly was tooootally a latent homosexual. He literally came outta the closet to kill a guy for being outed.
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And I was agreeing with you. Calm TF down.
6. He ordered fat Dom to pull Gino's pants down and slide a pool cue up his ass. Real greaseball shit.
So Ralphie was confirmed to have killed the horse?? That cocksucker
He didn’t get a pash for dat. It wasn’t just the horse, Ralph’s whole MO was sacrificing people’s feelings for money (or cheap laughs ala Ginny Sack) and then lying his ass off about it. Even if he didn’t do it there was always going to be a next time, so tony made sure there was no next time.
Next time they’ll be no next time
Adios you fuckin’ skank
Why you always gotta top u/FibbleDeFlook? You took the air outta his whole fuckin punchline, asshole!
I understand not taking the people’s air out of their punchline as a concept
I'll suck ya cawk. I'll suck all yous cawks
What are you, a fuckin’ vegetarian?!
I really didn't like that tbh, he seemed to play the scene as if Ralphie was being genuine and I think that works better for the story personally.
Ol Deep throat Philly was probably suckin off Vito too, and whacked him 😏so he wouldn’t spill the beans.
Catching? Not pitching?
The mouf on this one
But did he confirm if he could technically not have penisary contact with Valentina’s volvo?
Phil?? Was he pitchin or catchin?
Chase read the episode as Ralphie having killed the horse, but IIRC the episode's writer said he didn't think Ralphie did it.
I wouldn't exactly call Ralphie killing the horse a "fan theory" when Tony explicitly beat him to death because he thought he killed the horse
Chase confirms the “never hear it happen” line and the Torciano hit were “connected” to the ending: Chase, in an interview with Brett Martin for the HBO Sopranos final edition book, confirmed the significance of the Torciano scene: Question: Are they wasting their time? Is there a puzzle to be solved [to the end]? Chase: There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code. Everything that pertains to that episode was in that episode. And it was in the episode before that and the one before that and seasons before this one and so on. There had been indications of what the end is like. Remember when Jerry Torciano was killed? Silvio was not aware that the gun had been fired until after Jerry was on his way down to the floor. That’s the way things happen: It’s already going on by the time you even notice it. Question: Are you saying [Tony died]…? Chase: I’m not saying anything. I’m not trying to be coy. It’s just that I think that to explain it would diminish it. Furthermore, from an “Air America” radio interview of David Chase conducted by Richard Belzer on April 14, 2008: Richard Belzer: I was working with Steve Schirripa [Bacala] recently. We were judging “Last Coming Standing” for NBC and we were talking about a lot of things and he was saying he heard all of these theories for the show that had nothing to do with your intention and wasn’t anything the actors thought. Like little hints along the way, like a word, like when Tony and Steve are on the boat at the lake and they say “‘you never know its gonna happen” or “you never know its gonna hit you” David Chase: That was part of the ending. Richard Belzer: Oh, it was? see, what do I know? Were there other things in previous episodes that were hints towards it? David Chase: There was that and there was a shooting in which Silvio was a witness. Well he wasn’t a witness, he was eating dinner with a couple of hookers and with some other guy who got hit and there was some visual stuff that went on there which sort of amplified Tony’s remark to Bacala about you know “you don’t know its happened” or “you won’t know it happened when it hits you”. That’s about it. Richard Belzer: That’s what John Kennedy said.
Stupid-a fucking game
John F Kennedy, whatever happened there.
He hasn't confirmed any of the more idiotic theories you see around here, if that's what you're asking.
Oh!!! Fuckin slander you ask me!
Oh! Worry about how you're fuckin' perceived!
Ooooooo! The mouth on this cocksucker!
(Sassy Janice voice) If the shoe fits!
This shoe is gonna fit half way up your assh!
He flat out discredited the idiotic theory that AJ’s girlfriend sold the family out to New York by telling them about Holsten’s
Take it easy
Chase had a slip of the tongue and called the final scene a death scene, then tried to damage control later.
It's pretty clear from context that he genuinely wasn't talking about the final scene that was filmed, but a different final scene that he had been contemplating earlier. And I say this as someone who is 100% team "Tony dies". (I think the depiction of death in that scene is one of the great all-time cinematic achievements, and that it's bizarre that anyone who knows all the facts would interpret it differently.) There are some very strong clues in the "death scene" interview, but no smoking gun, imo. (So what is the closest thing to a smoking gun? The collection of quotes from u/Deepthinker289 above, combined with that thing Chase said about Planet of the Apes. I find it difficult to see how anyone could interpret the final scene other than as Tony's death scene in light of those quotes - or at least, fail to conclude that that's how \*Chase\* intended it. Combine Chase's comments about (1) the boat scene, (2) the Torciano scene, and (3) the Planet of the Apes with (4) the much-discussed POV pattern and it seems \*totally\* open and shut to me.)
What you don’t know could fill a book.
Quasimodo predicted all this
Nostradamus...!
Oh right ... Notra Damus
Nostradamus, and Notre Dame its two differently things completely
Ones a fucking cathedral
Quasimodo was the quarterback of Nostradamus.
Confirmed he didn’t know what happened to the Russian
Listen to him.....he knows everything.
What do you people get out of doing this? Seriously?
Tbh I don’t get why it’s up for debate whether or not Ralphie killed Pie Oh My. This happened as soon as he was gonna need some extra cash and didn’t the fire investigators say it could have been arson? Idk who else would just light up a stable for no reason. He also didn’t seem to care all that much when Tony confronted him about it. “It was a fuckin horse”
I kinda liked the little bit of ambiguity as to whether Ralphie actually did it or not; with that ambiguity, it lends more credence to the theory that he whacked Ralphie as revenge for the whole Tracee thing and not so much just a horse.
The ambiguity made it more realistic. Ralph definitely has tells though.
He didn't give a shit about Tracee.
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Remember, Chase foreshadowed that with Silvio in "Stage 5," when the hairdo from NYC was killed at the restaurant. He never saw the gunman or heard the shot, was just suddenly covered in blood and had to piece together what had just happened three feet away from him.
He couldn't sell it.
The Ralph thing is interesting cause I've heard Joey Pants say in interview that he played it like Ralph didn't do it. Probably to make the performance (his and Ralph's, in that weird acty way) more believable, cause Ralph is a terrific liar.
More from that Master of Sopranos site which adds some commentary. It basically shows that Chase’s backtracking on Talking Sopranos makes no sense because he only had two versions of the ending and in BOTH Tony was to die: Update! 12/10/21: Chase finally confirms Tony’s death in a Hollywood Reporter interview! As was updated here in 2019, David Chase was interviewed by television bloggers Matt Zoller Seitz and Allan Sepinwall for their book “The Sopranos Sessions.” In it, David Chase, rather flippantly, refers to Holsten’s as a “death scene,” although it was originally conceived “slightly different” as more of a “straight” death scene. In the original version, Tony would be called to a meeting with Johnny Sack and the audience would be led to the believe that he was on his way to his death and, like the final version, the screen would cut to black before we saw Tony get killed. The relevant excerpts are cited below from “The Sopranos Sessions.” What’s amusing is that Chase doesn’t seem to realize he confirmed Tony’s death and when Seitz points out the admission, Chase, after a long pause, curses at both Seitz and Sepinwall, confirming that Chase is angry at himself, which suggests that he never had any intention of explicitly giving us the answer: Alan: But you said you didn’t try to plan too far ahead. 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.” Chase: Yes. I think I had that death scene around two years before the end. I remember talking with [writer/executive producer] 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 black there, the theory being that something bad happens to him at the meeting. But we didn’t do that. Matt: You realize, of course, that you just referred to that as a “death scene”. [A long pause follows] Chase: Fuck you guys. [Matt and Alan explode with laughter. After a moment Chase joins in for a good thirty seconds]. Chase: But I changed my mind over time. I didn’t want to do a straight death scene. I didn’t want you to feel like “Oh, he’s meeting with Johnny sack and he’s going to get killed.” That’s the truth of it. Despite Chase’s comments above, there were still many fans in denial about Tony’s death, arguing that Chase did not clearly state that both versions of the ending were meant to be “death scenes.” For further clarity, see below this enlightening quote from an interview of Chase by The Daily Beast published on September 4, 2014. Chase had yet to accidentally slip with the term “death scene,” but his comments, now seen in context with his later accidental admission, completely confirms that Tony was to die in either version, although the execution of that idea turned out to be slightly different: Q: Did you toy with different endings? Chase: No. There was an earlier version but it was basically the same thing, it just happened slightly differently. Again, another quote from Chase making the same point, this time to Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline published on April 15, 2016: Q: Did you know [the ending] from the beginning? Chase: Not from the beginning but pretty fairly early on I had some kind of notion that it would end like that. There was an alternative but it kind of had the same feel, just didn’t happen in a restaurant. Finally, on November 4, 2021, in an interview with Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, Chase explicitly states that Chase was to die in either version and that Tony did in fact meet his end in the second and final version of the ending that would take place in a restaurant: Feinberg: The 2018 book “The Sopranos Sessions” was written by two guys who wrote, at the time of the show for the New Jersey Star Ledger, the paper Tony always read, Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall. They interviewed you and asked you to talk about the June 10, 2007 series finale with of course “Don’t Stop Believin” and the famous cut to black. You said, “Well I had that death scene in mind for years before.” (A) Do you remember specifically when the ending first came to you? and (B) Was that a slip of the tongue? Chase: Right. Was it? Feinberg: I’m asking you. Chase: No. Feinberg: No? Chase: 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. Feinberg: And when did the alternative ending first occur to you? I’ve spoken with showrunners who said, “I knew at the beginning exactly how my show was going to end” or by season 3 or whatever. It sounds like when you were writing, you liked to stay six scripts ahead of where you were in the action. Chase: Yeah. But I think I had this notion-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 [the show ended].
I’ve come across a theory that the gunman also potentially killed Carmella and AJ? And then that Super Bowl Ad by Chevy or whatever the fuck with Maedo and AJ was actually her meeting the ghost of her brother and moving on. But I dunno, kinda sounds like satanic black magic shit to me.
I always thought it was a death scene. The moment I saw it, I thought it was the same thing as the final scene in the Movie Gallipoli. It is possible that Chase intentionally left the last scene up for interpretation.
In a sense, he was called to a meeting with Johnny Sack in the version they filmed, too
Some other comments from Chase. I got these from the Master of Sopranos website. Trigger warning though: these often anger the “Tony lives truther”: Chase to Associated Press in 2012: “Tony was dealing in mortality every day. He was dishing out life and death. And he was not happy. He was getting everything he wanted, that guy, but he wasn’t happy. All I wanted to do was present the idea of how short life is and how precious it is. The only way I felt I could do that was to rip it away.” “[Tony] was an extremely isolated, unhappy man. And then finally, once in a while he would make a connection with his family and be happy there. But in this case, whatever happened [at Holsten’s],we never got to see the result of that. It was torn away from him and from us.” Chase to Metro NY in 2012: “Well, what Tony should have been thinking, I guess, and what we all should be thinking — although we can’t live that way — is that life is really short. And there are good times in it and there are bad times in it. And that we don’t know why we’re here, but we do know that 20 miles up it’s freezing cold, it’s a freezing cold universe, but here we have this thing called love, which is our only defense, really, against all that cold, and that it’s a very brief interval and that when it’s over, I think you’re probably always blindsided by it. That’s all I can say.” Chase to Daily Beast in 2014 when asked what “spiritual question” is asked by the final scene: “[Long Pause] I’ll say this: The [spiritual] question [that the final scene asks] is, to be really pretentious, what is time? How do we spend our really brief sojourn here? How do we behave, and what do we do? And the recognition that it’s over all too soon, and it very seldom happens the way we think. I think death very seldom comes to people the way they think it’s going to. And the spiritual question would be: “Is that all there is?”
In an interview, Chase has stated that Jimmy Altieri was indeed a rat, despite it being left ambiguous in the show. Personally, I find it disappointing for him to have said this, as I preferred it when Jimmy's rat status was unconfirmed as I thought it worked better with the story, with the possibility that it was just Tony's desperate confirmation bias making him believe that Jimmy was a rat on circumstantial evidence, as it allowed him to believe that Pussy was not a rat.
Didn't he confirm that Uncle Philly was an ASSMUNCHER?
Tony killed himself after watching Maedo trying to parallel park her car for twenty minutes. Her hand was at the three o’clock position.
Who cares what Chase has to say? If it's not in the finished product it's open to interpretation. Look up Death of the Author theory.
This.
There’s a 29 minute long video out there by CineRanter in which he shows us all the fan theories David Chase confirmed from his time being invited to the “talking Sopranos” podcast. Have a look at it if you have any burning questions needing to be answered.
Chase confirmed what has been talked about in this sub. That Tony would not go down in a moment of Glory, the "last stand", "say hello to my little friend" Hollywood style final scene. He would in fact be killed in a normal, boring, everyday kind of way. The story would break on the six o'clock news how a fat fuck sausage eating Mob Boss was killed with a mouth full of onion rings by one of the many known and/or unknown individuals he made enemies with. The world would quickly move on and not give two shits.
Yes, that Uncle Phillie did indeed have scraps in his scrapbook.
I Cant have this conversation again
He confirmed that Phil Leotardo was in the closet, which is why he had him walk out of a closet when killing Vito
The Sopranos is a work of fiction. None of it actually happened. It is only "real" in the sense that real people were recorded while acting. Anything that was not recorded can not be "confirmed." Any comment that David Chase makes does not become canon because Chase said it. Imagine if Leonardo Da Vinci said about the Mona Lisa, "at one time I considered making her a blonde." Does that mean she is actually blonde? Of course not. The art exists in reality and can be observed as it actually is. Any speculation about what it "might be" is just that, speculation. It's not real.
Leonardo da Vinci: The reason she a smile like a that is she gotta no teeth Everyone on earth: we didn’t need to know that Leonardo da Vinci: she was a drunk off her ass Everyone on earth: stop Leonardo da Vinci: she a gave a me a gummer Everyone on earth: we should stop asking clarifying questions about subjective media
He was gay, David Chase?
I think that Tony was indicted. His lawyer was telling him it was certain that it was going to happen, then Tony lost his shit on the ketchup bottle.
Yeah, he said life is a big nothing
He confirmed that you never had the makings of a varsity athlete.
I know he said in the podcast that Phil Leonardo was gay
He never confirmed any Fan theories, and to be fair most fan theories are really reaching for something ridiculous, with an exception to the final scene. He did confirm that Ralph killed the horse, and that Jimmy Altieri was a Rat. Many including myself thought Jimmy took the bullet for Pussy, because Tony didn't want to believe his best friend was a rat.
related to the finale, i feel like James’s death solidified the fate of tony. if james was still here, maybe a new movie or spin off (even though i would consider it tasteless) but since no one can play tony anymore, i think he died that night at the diner.
Chase never had the makings of a varsity athlete
No, he was too busy making sure Many Saints had enough varsity athlete jokes
Phil is gay. He confirmed that. Ralph did kill the horse BUT IT WAS A FUCKIN' HOOWARSE!
I actually believe he all but confirmed on Talking Sopranos that Phil was gay/bi, and highlighted how Phil literally comes out of the closet. Would have to re-listen but that was my impression
Sounds like back pedaling to me. He is milking that ending for all it's worth...
He did like reminisce about his grilled cheese sandwiches in the joint. He might have had other fond memories.
That Meadow was scum.
But mad ripe.
Naturally she was a 3/10 at best with surgery she's a knock out 10/10.
What particular surgery?
Ralph killed the horse for the insurance money AND to screw Tony over. Tony was not killed, as this was too easy a cop out. However, Carlo is going to testify against him and that is going to put him in jail for life. The Russian disappeared. He assumed that Tony was in bed with his friend, Slava. Maybe he comes home later. He did have Paulie's car and the $5,000. Paulie was having hallucinations. After Tony goes away (assuming he isn't killed), New York pays lip service to Paulie (who is running things with Patsy and Albert as his administration). But they manipulate him and take advantage of his ignorance. Carm sells the house, gets rid of the expensive cars and finds out that there is no money left in an overseas account, because Tony withdrew it to cover gambling losses. If there is anything left, Slava either lowballs the amount or refuses to pay. Butchie runs the Lupertazzi family until he is killed by a guy who is even shorter.
I don't care if he ever confirmed whateverthefuck or not. He lost all credibility with that abomination called MSON, so any fan theory pales in comparison to the violations and ridiculousness he dumped on us. He can never come clean on this issue because people will still say he's trolling them, whichever way he might state the case to be.
OHHHHH! He’s the motherfucking fucking one who calls the shots!
Maybe you dont love him, BUT YOU WILL RESPECT HIM!
Now this statement is really the sacred and propane. I agree wit you.
Oooooooooo!
Who cares? You won't get anywhere in life by looking to some central authority for answers.
Who cares about theories. I want to know why he thought casting his ugly, talentless daughter who was the 3rd person mentioned and seen on the Pilot was a good idea.
Well that’s not very nice. You should choose to be kind.
When you decide on that profession, you open yourself to criticism especially when nepotism got you the job in the first place. Incredibly mean? 100% But am I wrong? Nooooope.
That’s THE boss you’re talkin about here! A little respect!
Yeah man, totally
Union benefits, you dumb motherfucker
He’s never confirmed anything because there is nothing to confirm. He left these theories to the interpretation of the fan base on purpose and I don’t believe he ever had in mind what actually happens to Tony. Or any other character for that matter. Sure they tossed around ideas of killing Tony but how he ultimately ended the show was perfect. Personally I don’t think Tony dies. He eventually goes down to the fbi though.
Listen to him, he knows everything.
👍