'The Sopranos' : Did Tony Soprano Survive or Not?

The creator of the classic HBO drama clarifies the outcome of the 2007 finale

By

Published on August 28, 2014 07:15 AM

It shouldn’t matter whether Tony Soprano lived or died after the controversial 2007 finale of The Sopranos.

That’s the latest from David Chase, the creator of the classic HBO drama, who was compelled to issue a statement after Vox quoted him as saying the New Jersey mobster lived after the screen went black in the series ender.

On Wednesday, Vox wrote a long tone poem about the infamous finale and finished it off with an eye-opening quote from Chase about whether Tony, played by the late James Gandolfini, was actually dead.

“No,” Chase was quoted as saying. “No he isn’t.”

By day’s end, however, a spokeswoman for Chase felt it necessary to clarify the writer’s remarks.

“A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview,” said spokeswoman Leslee Dart.

“To simply quote David as saying, ‘Tony Soprano is not dead,’ is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, ‘Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.’ To continue to search for this answer is fruitless.”

The statement concludes with, “The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer.”