Seven years after the season finale of what is widely regarded as the greatest television series of all time - we have the answer to the question that has taken over many a conversation in many a pub - did Tony die at the end of The Sopranos?
The series ended in such an open-ended way, that it had everyone pretty much thinking their TV had just cut off when it went straight to that black screen. A collective 'What?' was heard reverberating through the atmosphere. Speculation was rife with people suggesting that this blackness in fact implied that Tony had been shot, the lights had gone out. Others, like ourselves, well, yeah we just thought our TV had cut out.
BUT! Now creator David Chase has given the answer in a lengthy interview with Vox, here's how it went down;
Question: Is Tony dead or what?
The journalist writes; "We were in a tiny coffee shop, when, in the middle of a low-key chat about a writing problem I was having, I popped the question. Chase startled me by turning toward me and saying with sudden, explosive anger, “Why are we talking about this?” I answered, “I’m just curious.” And then, for whatever reason, he told me. [...]
He shook his head “no.” And he said simply, “No he isn’t.” That was all."
And there it is. 'No he isn't'. So even though sadly James Gandolfini is no longer with us, at least we can know that Tony Soprano lives on in some David Chase created universe somewhere.
The creator also revealed that the cut to black was based on the poem “Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe... if you fancy interpreting some poetry of a Friday.
So there you have it, we have the answer from the horse's mouth.
He lives!
