New Sopranos Prequel Could Provide Clues To Explain Weird Series Finale

Spoilers for The Many Saints of Newark and The Sopranos ahead

The Sopranos finale is one of the most conflicting and confusing pieces of media to ever exist. While it left many to wonder whether their TV was broken due to its abrupt closing and ten seconds of blank space on the screen, others were left grasping for an explanation.

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Carmella Soprano (Edie Falco) sit at an All American Diner along with AJ. Tony orders a bowl of onion rings for the table while they wait for Meadow to arrive. However, tension keeps building as Tony looks around in the diner while Meadow is parallel parking her car. We see a man in a Member’s Only jacket glancing at Tony, and after the entry bell of the diner rings, we get a last look at Tony, and then sudden, prolonged darkness.

David Chase, the creator of the series, has managed to keep the fate of Tony a secret from everyone. Regardless, most fans believe that it was Tony’s death which was signified with the darkness at the end. The new Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints Of Newark, has a curious line which suggests that this fan theory might be true.

A young Tony Sopranos saw his father’s arrest when he sneaked up on Janice and Anthony Soprano going to the carnival. This was shown in one of the final episodes of The Sopranos’ season 1 and redone in the movie. Tony witnesses the death of one of Anthony’s friends as he gets shot on the back and killed by the cops. Tony later addresses this to Dickie Moltesanti (Christopher’s father) and says “I don’t want that to happen to me.“

The phrase is very suggestive of what happens to Tony at the end of the show. The writers David Chase and Lawrence Konner deliberately placed these words in the show, which is something that fans find rather suspicious. After all, The Sopranos was a deeply symbolic show to begin with, and a symbolic ending to its characters is fitting to its tone.

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