As the creator of one of the most critically acclaimed dramas of all time, The Sopranos, David Chase has to talk about his crown jewel just about every time he sits down for an interview. And anytime someone starts talking Sopranos, it’s inevitable for the polarizing ending to come up. But it’s not often Chase talks about that other ending that was shot. He does here though, when asked about alternate takes.
There was another fake ending that we shot where, I forget what it was… Tony goes back to the Bada Bing and has an argument with Silvio or something. Well, it couldn’t have been Silvio because he was in the in the hospital. Well, anyway, it was a fake ending that we shot just to throw people off. This was when we had people trying to invade and get our scripts.
David Chase was totally getting his J.J. Abrams on by putting together a fake ending for The Sopranos as a smoke screen distraction for the REAL ending. In the scheme of things, I have to wonder if Tony having an argument with someone inside the iconic strip club would have been a better way for the show to bow out than the way it did. I mean, it didn’t really bow out so much as just fade into dark nothingness. So an argument, regardless of its reasoning or outcome, probably would have been received slightly better than the ringing bell of the diner’s door. At least from some people.
Even though The Sopranos finale aired in 2007, it still feels like a completely different era in TV, especially when it comes to fans trying to get spoilers. Chase talks of people invading and stealing scripts, which undoubtedly still happens, but today’s leaks more often come from digital screeners getting passed around or cameras on drones taking videos and images from sets. I bet Tony could have done some really interesting shit if he had a couple of drones.
After all this talk of endings, you might be wondering what, if anything, is happening on the front of the potential prequel to The Sopranos that’s been rumored for years. Unfortunately, there’s nothing good to share on that front, as Chase told Deadline that while he’s “disinclined” to say he’ll never do it, he doesn’t think it’ll happen and he definitely hasn’t had an idea good enough to turn his mind around on the matter. So we’ll just continue hoping that idea rears its pazzo head at some point.
Now if only there was a way for this story to end like the The Sopranos di…
