Though many fans look back at the ending now and feel better about it, at the time of “The Sopranos” series finale, a lot of folks were upset by the ambiguity. Did Tony Soprano die? Did the family live happily ever after? Or perhaps the screen cuts to black right before an alien invasion occurs and “The Sopranos” would have turned into “War of the Worlds?” Either way, the uncertainty of the ending has led to countless fan theories and speculation. And for ‘Sopranos’ fan Alec Baldwin, even before the finale was written, he was lobbying hard to have a vital role in the ending.
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Speaking on the Talking Sopranos podcast, hosted by Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, Alec Baldwin talked about how he really wanted to have a crucial role in the finale of “The Sopranos,” even before he knew what the ending was going to be. Basically, he wanted to be the guy who kills James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano character.
“I called up whoever it was, I forget, and I said, ‘Tell them, when it’s time to kill Jimmy’ — this was early before you get to the end — ‘there’s only one man in this business who should come in, whack Jimmy, and ride off with Edie [Falco, who played Tony’s wife, Carmela], and I am that man,’” Baldwin said. “I am the guy who needs to blow Jimmy away and take Edie, who I’m madly in love with, away.”
He continued, “And they were like, ‘Sure, great, we’ll add your name to the list of all the Irish actors who think that they should be on ‘The Sopranos.’”
Obviously, for those that have seen the finale, no such scene took place and Baldwin never appeared in the series. However, it is widely believed that Tony Soprano did die at the end of the series, though series creator, David Chase, has never fully confirmed that’s what happened. But if Chase and the folks behind “The Sopranos” did have someone in mind to put the bullet in Tony, they could have done a lot worse than Alec Baldwin. Sadly, it will only exist in certain fans’ headcanon.
You can watch the full series of “The Sopranos” on HBO Max now, and the full Talking Sopranos episode with Baldwin is below: