10 years ago, The Sopranos ended with one of the most famous cuts-to-black in history, and now the creator of the show thinks a prequel series could work. Back in the series finale, we saw the Soprano family — Tony, Carmella, Anthony Jr. and Meadow — gathering for a meal at a restaurant while an upbeat Journey tune played on the soundtrack. A sense of anticipation built, teasing the possibility of a final burst of violence. And then all of a sudden, in the middle of the scene, it just cut to a black screen and that was it.

After six seasons, it was a strange, and for some people, frustrating way to bring the show to an end, and creator David Chase has had to defend the move ever since. A decade later people still discuss that cut and what it meant and whether The Sopranos could ever come back to television. Chase has his own opinions on whether there could ever be more Sopranos, and some might be surprised to hear what he says.

EW talked to Chase on the occasion of The Sopranos‘ finale’s 10th anniversary and brought up the subject of reviving the show, and possibly even showing what happened after the cut-to-black. When it came to the idea of continuing the original series with a new cast, Chase was adamant that this could/should never come to pass:

“I wouldn’t want to see that happen, no. Like recasting? … Everybody’s getting older, you can’t match people anymore.”
However, Chase did leave open the possibility of The Sopranos returning in a different form that would not mean continuing the story beyond the infamous finale and replacing the original cast (including the late James Gandolfini):

“I could conceive of maybe a prequel of The Sopranos. I could never see [a return of the show] except as a prequel.”
Even back when the show was still on the air there was talk of a possible Sopranos prequel film set when Tony was a child and his father John and Uncle Junior were running the family. When asked before about that potential film, Chase indicated that he had talks with studios about the idea but nothing very serious. Chase has said before that he wouldn’t do a TV series prequel but would do a one-off film, but minds can sometimes change and maybe a prequel series could still happen at HBO.

Just the fact that people still talk about The Sopranos and wish to return to that world is testament to the impact the series had when it ran on HBO. The current era of prestige television really began with The Sopranos, and for some people nothing else has ever risen to that level. Revisiting the world in some form or another remains a possibility, but it’s clear that we will never see what happened in the rest of that restaurant scene, at least not while David Chase has a say in the matter.




ScreenRant