Why one of ‘The Sopranos’ most painful deaths happened off-screen: “I’ve never seen a set so quiet”

On May 23rd, 2004, The Sopranos fans were forced to witness one of the most painful deaths in TV history – a death they still talk about to this day, even though it happened off-screen.

In the episode ‘Long Term Parking’, the finale of the exemplary mob series’ fifth season, the beloved Adriana La Cerva met her end at the hands of Tony Soprano’s loyal consigliere Silvio Dante. Adriana, played by Drea De Matteo, had been cooperating with the FBI, and even though she hadn’t told them anything crucial about Sopranos’ operation, she was still viewed as a “rat”.

This is the ultimate sin in the mob world, and it meant her days were numbered – but fans never stopped believing she could somehow escape a date with the Grim Reaper.

When it came time to script the harrowing moment of Adriana’s demise, though, writer Terrence Winter had her crawl out of frame before she was shot to death by Silvio. Fascinatingly, he told Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t specifically choose for her to die off-screen – he wrote it that way almost subconsciously. He explained: “I’ve written some very graphic violence for the show, and for some reason…I scripted this scene where she crawled out of camera. People asked, ‘Why didn’t you show it?’ I realized that I didn’t want to see it myself.”

“I completely didn’t think about it when I wrote it,” Winter insisted. “But it just felt like the right thing to do, filmically and cinematically. I think it worked really great, but I guess I did not want to see Adriana/Drea get shot.”

This explanation may make some fans ask why Winter would care so much about seeing a fictional character die. But it provides a unique insight into how “real” these characters become to the people who write them for long periods. Winter explained that it spoke to “how much we fell in love with this character and that actress.”

Show creator David Chase agreed wholeheartedly with Winter, telling EW, “It’s the only time in the whole history of the show in which we killed someone, and we didn’t show their point of view.” To him, though, the fact that Adriana’s ultimate fate was left to the audience’s imagination somehow made it even more upsetting, even though it was specifically crafted to avoid showing anything too distressing. He confessed, “I don’t think any of us wanted to see Drea in that condition.”

Director Tim Van Patten said that the atmosphere among the cast and crew became extremely subdued after De Matteo’s final scene. He mused, “There was such a sense of reverence on set. I’ve never seen a set so quiet. It really was like a death in the family.”

Why did the cast and crew, as well as the show’s passionate fanbase, connect to Adriana so much, though? Winter had a theory, and it’s one which makes a lot of sense. He believes Adriana was so loved because she wasn’t like the other characters in the show. Even though she was in a relationship with a gangster, she wasn’t truly of their world. She was a normal person who found herself guilty by association. The writer explained, “She certainly didn’t deserve the fate she got. So, her death was more painful than any of the gangsters who live by the sword die by the sword.”

In the end, the experience was highly emotional and bittersweet for De Matteo. Though the cast and crew tried to show how much they cared for her by bringing a cart of champagne to set, gifting her a bouquet of flowers, and filling her trailer with balloons, she was still left with a bittersweet feeling. She felt the creative decision to show Soprano and his crew at their ugliest was brave and a big risk for the show, but it still hurt that Adriana was on the receiving end of this ugliness. She maintained, “Adriana wanted what was best for everybody; she only operated from a place of light.”