On Wednesday, the Internet lit up when Vox published an interview with The Sopranos creator David Chase and quoted him as finally answering the big question fans of the show still have on their mind. Is Tony Soprano really dead? Well, it turns out that we still don’t have a firm answer.
As we previously reported, Chase told Martha P. Nochimson that Tony is not dead. Nochimson noted that Chase was visibly angered by the fact that he was asked the question again, as he has said in the past that the point of the finale wasn’t to give viewers a definitive answer on Tony’s fate.
After the quote went viral, Chase’s rep sent a statement to Vox, essentially stating that Chase’s stance on Tony’s fate has not changed.
“A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying, ‘Tony Soprano is not dead,’ is inaccurate,” the statement reads. “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 final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer.”
The rep didn’t say exactly what Chase said that Nochimson took out of context.
The magazine defended its writer, noting that Nochimson herself wrote that even if there is a definitive answer, it still doesn’t stop debate about The Sopranos. The show remains a milestone of television and will be talked about for years to come, even if we know Tony lived past the finale of the show.
Sadly, James Gandolfini, the actor who played Tony, is no longer with us. He died suddenly in June 2013 at age 51.
image via Walter McBride/INFphoto.com