Nearly two decades ago, millions of viewers reacted with frantic shouts, convinced their cable connection had died as HBO’s “The Sopranos” concluded its final season. This reaction was thanks to creator David Chase, who crafted one of the most brilliant and suspenseful final scenes in television history.

Titled “Made in America,” that finale delivered an epic and ambiguous conclusion to the story of northern New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano, famously played by the late, remarkable James Gandolfini.

The iconic scene unfolds: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” plays as Tony, Carmela (Edie Falco), and their son, A.J. (Robert Iler), savor what are arguably Jersey’s best onion rings at Holsten’s. Abruptly, the song cuts off at “Don’t stop,” plunging the screen into 10 seconds of black before the final, silent credits roll.

Now, with the benefit of years of hindsight and the release of the prequel, “The Many Saints of Newark,” the mystery surrounding Tony’s ultimate fate has begun to unravel.

So, what actually happened to Tony?

Soprano’s Own Foreshadowing

Tony himself once foreshadowed his destiny to Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), stating there are “two endings for a guy like me, a high-profile guy: dead or in the can.”

With his son, Jason, arrested, Carlo Gervasi (Arthur J. Nascarella) was expected to provide damaging testimony. This left Tony preparing for an indictment that would likely imprison him for the rest of his life. Therefore, even if Soprano survived dinner, his old lifestyle was essentially over, symbolizing a proverbial death.

However, it doesn’t appear Tony lives to see a trial.

A blackout ending

Amidst the soundtrack of an ’80s rock song playing in the diner, a man repeatedly glances over his shoulder at Tony from his seat at the counter. This individual, identified as ‘Man in Members Only Jacket’ in the credits, subtly references the Season 6 premiere, ‘Members Only.’ That episode depicted the grim suicide of FBI informant Eugene Pontecorvo (Robert Funaro), a member of Tony’s crew, because he was denied permission to retire to Florida with his family.

In the show’s concluding moments, the man enters the restroom at Holsten’s, roughly 30 seconds before the screen suddenly cuts to black. This action deliberately echoes Tony’s cherished scene from “The Godfather,” where Michael Corleone retrieves a hidden firearm from behind a restaurant’s toilet to take revenge for his father’s attempted murder.

As the ‘Members Only’ man is in the restroom, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) finally manages to parallel park successfully after numerous unsuccessful attempts. She then rushes towards Holsten’s entrance, just as Tony glances up, moments before the abrupt conclusion.

If Tony was indeed killed at that precise moment, it would align with the visual continuity established by series creator David Chase, who notably directed both the premiere and the finale.

Interpretive Theories

Tony is the initial family member to arrive at Holsten’s, followed by several other patrons, including the ‘Members Only’ man. With each new entry through the front door, a bell chimes, and the camera cuts to a close-up of Tony’s face, conveying his perspective to the viewers.

In the episode’s final seconds, that familiar bell rings, suggesting Meadow’s imminent entry into the diner. The scene then shifts to Tony, presumably just as the ‘Members Only’ man reappears from the background, potentially with a weapon, before the screen abruptly goes dark. This sudden, silent darkness is understood to represent Tony’s own point of view, a perspective consistently emphasized throughout the show’s final season.

A few episodes prior, in “Soprano Home Movies,” Bobby Baccalieri (Steven Schirripa) chillingly tells Tony during a grim discussion about their potential deaths: “You probably don’t even hear it when it happens.” Later, in “The Blue Comet,” the series’ penultimate episode, Bobby is assassinated under the orders of a rival mob boss. Subsequently, Tony holds the gun Bobby had given him for his birthday and recalls Bobby’s prescient “Don’t even hear it” remark.

The Director’s Perspective

In 2020, David Chase seemingly made an unintentional revelation during interviews. After more than a decade of declining to interpret the final scene, he subtly referred to it as depicting Tony’s death.

In a leaked interview for his book, The Sopranos Sessions, Chase accidentally disclosed the ending when co-author Alan Sepinwall posed the question: “When you said there was an endpoint, you don’t mean Tony at Holsten’s, you just meant, ‘I think I have two more years’ worth of stories left in me.’”

Chase’s response was, “Yes, I think I had that death scene around two years before the end … But we didn’t do that.”

Co-author Matt Zoller Seitz then pointed out, “You realize, of course, that you just referred to that as a death scene.”

However, this accidental admission merely confirmed what many had already deduced.

Tony’s Cumulative Failures

The entirety of Season 6 consistently highlights Tony’s mounting failures, culminating in the final scene.

In “Kennedy and Heidi,” Tony grapples with his inability to halt Christopher’s (Michael Imperioli) severe drug addiction, ultimately leading him to kill his own cousin. This is particularly poignant as Christopher’s ex-fiancée later became an FBI informant.

This event is succeeded by A.J.’s attempted suicide in Tony’s swimming pool during the episode “The Second Coming.” Consequently, Tony drains the pool, a significant act given that at the series’ outset, he found solace wading in it to feed ducks, which symbolized his family. The Soprano household is left with a stark image: an empty, covered pool, even in cold weather.

In the final episode, Tony makes a somber visit to Silvio in the hospital, where Silvio lies in a coma with no expectation of recovery. In quiet contemplation, Tony presumably reflects on the circumstances, recognizing he could have done more to avert them.

Subsequently, he visits a cognitively impaired Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese), who famously mocked Tony throughout the series for lacking the “makings of a varsity athlete.” Fittingly, in the very next scene at Holsten’s, a mural depicting a local high school football star is prominently featured on the wall.

Unanswered Questions: Who Killed the Boss?

Even if Tony’s death is accepted, a fundamental question persists: Who was responsible for killing Tony Soprano? Was the assailant a relative of Eugene’s? Did the New York crime family renege on their ceasefire agreement? Or perhaps, was it an interior decorator seeking revenge for 16 Czechoslovakians? And where has Furio (Federico Castelluccio) been throughout this time?

This enduring ambiguity serves as a potent symbol in itself. Throughout the series, the families and loved ones of other deceased characters were consistently denied closure. Similarly, David Chase’s audience is left without a definitive resolution, with the fate of both the Soprano’s immediate family and their criminal enterprise left uncertain. The ending remains one of television’s most cryptic and unresolved puzzles.