Want to guess how the Sopranos will end on Sunday? Perhaps in a hail of bullets? With a whimper instead of a bang? Will Tony die? Perhaps he’ll rat out Phil Leotardo’s crew to the FBI to save his skin? And how will A.J. be involved if at all?
Whatever your theories may be, you might want to put your money on multiple guesses: “Sopranos” creator David Chase apparently filmed three different endings to the finale to help keep the conclusion secret. Chase also revels in defying expectations, so the logical ending might not be the the one that ultimately fits. He told Rolling Stone in 2001, “The paradigm of the traditional gangster film is the rise and fall. You have to ask yourself: Do I want to bother with that paradigm?”
In a recent interview with the AP, James Gandolfini himself said he had lost faith in Tony and no longer liked the character. “I used to. But it’s difficult toward the end. I think the thing with Christopher might have turned the corner.”
Chase has the final word on the finale. He told Entertainment Weekly recently, “There’ll be people who will like the finale and people who won’t like it, but I think that if people look at what the show was, or could even watch the whole story again, they’ll understand what the ending is” (apparently he came up with the ending four years ago)
Btw, the criminal sociopath study that Dr. Melfi and Bogdanovich keep referencing? It’s real.
Peter Biskind spoke to him in the March Vanity Fair Sopranos cover story and their conversation then reminds us that Sunday night could end somewhat ambiguously.
Biskind: You’re famous for not tying up loose ends.
Chase: I think, probably, that’s because that’s not what the story was about. It’s not important. It seems to be part of life, too, that things recede into the background or whatever. Something that was so important to you Thursday—all of a sudden, you’re caught up in something else and it’s not important Friday.