“Don’t tell me that you don’t love him”: The Sopranos Creator Was Concerned After Fans Wanted James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano Dead in the Most Shameful Way

American filmmaker David Chase is best known for his 1999 crime drama series The Sopranos, featuring late actor James Gandolfini, which is undeniably a cult classic. Gandolfini, who played the role of antihero Tony Soprano became a household name after appearing in the series.

While the end of his character depicted in the series is vague, Chase claimed that fans of the show were expecting a brutal end for the antihero. During an interview, Chase expressed his surprise, while sharing that despite being part of the series till the end, the viewers had no emotion for Tony Soprano.

David Chase was shocked after learning about fans’ notion of the end of the series

David Chase’s 1999 television series The Sopranos, ran for seven years from 1999 to 2007. Although the ending of the series left the audience bewildered, it came to be known as Chase’s best work. The series follows the story of Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) who is the leader of a criminal organization.

The antihero character created much hype among the fans and the series became a cult classic over time. While Gandolfini became a household name after performing Tony, Chase revealed during an interview that fans wanted a grotesque end for Gandolfini’s character. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker said,

“What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. That bothered me.”

The end of The Sopranos had a vague ending where Tony is seen sitting at the dining table with his family. The scene ends suddenly without any hint of what happened to Tony at the time. The creator of the show, left the fans assuming the fate of Tony.

During the interview, Chase explained that viewers wanted to see Tony’s end. He expressed his concern about fans’ expectations on Tony’s end. He said that, though Tony was an anti-hero, he was the main character of the series, and what was shocking for him was that they had no empathy for the character. Chase said,

“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.”

While Chase’s concern isn’t illogical, the director also had another ending for the film, but he deliberately chose to leave the series at a cliffhanger.

What was the alternate ending of The Sopranos?

During the same interview, David Chase revealed that he had two endings for The Sopranos in his mind but he deliberately decided to go with the complex one which was shown in the series. To all those fans, who were eagerly waiting to know Tony’s end, Chase has an answer to it. Chase shared,

“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.”

However, Chase didn’t find this ending satisfying and decided to go for another ending. Chase recalled,

“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 series ended].”