HBO
Despite the fact that it’s been close to 15 years since the series finale of The Sopranos, “Made in America”, premiered on HBO and yet the iconic New Jersey mobster show arguably remains just as much of a pop-cultural fixture.
Given the nature of streaming, both new fans and repeat viewers are entering the world of The Sopranos every single day, especially given the release of The Many Saints of Newark, the first-ever prequel film in the franchise.
As a result, Chase, now 76-years-old, has been talking about his seminal series quite a bit recently, leading to these recent comments to The Hollywood Reporter about how the reaction to The Sopranos finale “bothers” him.
“I had no idea it would cause that much— I mean, I forget what was going on in Iraq or someplace; London had been bombed! Nobody was talking about that; they were talking about The Sopranos,” Chase said. “It was kind of incredible to me.”
“What was annoying was how many people wanted to see Tony killed. That bothered me. They wanted to know that Tony was killed. They wanted to see him go face-down in linguini, you know? And I just thought, ‘God, you watched this guy for seven years and I know he’s a criminal. But don’t tell me you don’t love him in some way, don’t tell me you’re not on his side in some way. And now you want to see him killed? You want justice done? You’re a criminal after watching this s*it for seven years.’ That bothered me, yeah.” [via The Hollywood Reporter]
Chase is right: despite Tony Soprano’s atrocities, he remained the hero of the show, a hero that I rooted for until the series cut to black.
Both The Sopranos and The Many Saints of Newark are currently streaming on HBO Max.
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