I assume board members have debated this before, but how will THE SOPRANOS story-wise ultimately end?

I mean, will Tony Soprano rat out at the end, or be a stiff corpse in some hollow ground in Jersey or....nothing changes?

Really, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions on this.

I really dont think they're going to kill Tony, or have him rat out anyone. I think it'll be a Godfather II like ending.

I don't know. I always thought maybe he'd ironicly die of natural causes or something.

Chris is going to kill Tony. Adrianas death is going to haunt Chris.

DS

Knowing the Sopranos and seeing how the writers often seem to build the viewers up for action and then let them down, I have to agree completely with TSoprano here and opt for the "Godfather II"-like ending, in which Tony probably whacks out someone major, and then we just fade away from him, never really finding out what happens to him afterwards, we're just supposed to assume he went on living his life.

Sopranos has always seemed to conciously try to avoid being cliched, and I feel as though going with any of the traditional and much-discussed options (Tony rats, Tony gets whacked, etc.) would just be too easy for them. They have to torture us.

The Sopranos is a story of a man that struggles keeping two families going. The end will be where Tony must choose between his two families. There will be a conflict and a struggle whrere Tony must choose which family he must save........

It will be his blood family, not his crime family

My friend and I had an interesting idea while contemplating this question.

What if Tony was killed in the last episode of the *regular* 12 episode installment, and the additional 8 bonus episodes dealt with the reactions of all of the other charcters and the power struggle/fallout, etc. I thought itd be pretty interesting that way, although somewhat difficult watching Sopranos without Gandolfini.

Any thoughts?

I like that idea. It gives Chris space to either be hunted down (by Paulie and/or Silvio), or be the new Don of the Soprano family. As we've witnessed for the first several seasons, Tony is pampering Chris so that maybe one day, Chris could run the family, or at least be a capo. So many alternatives! We'll just have to see.

That would be interesting, if all of Tony's grooming of Chris to be boss backfired on him and gave Chris the iniative to kill Tony and take over. He could probably also manipulate Silvio, Paulie, and the others considering he is supposed to be the only one Tony is giving orders through, so they basically have to take his word as Tony's. Interesting...

I also believe it will be a "Godfather II" ending. After all, look what has happened in Season 5. Tony has been isolating himself from the crew, some of his decisions are not supported even by his consigliere, he has whacked a family member and he has doubts about his ability to keep the Family together. These remind me of something.

yeah, my friend and I can't wait to see how the entire series ends, and it's so much fun thinking of how it'll all end. When does season 6 begin?

its scheduled for March 5th, 2006

David Chase should be the one Tony should whack at the end of the Sopranos for making us wait this long for a new season.

is March 2006 the US airing right?

i am in the UK...therefore i will have to wait a further god-knows-how-long to see it.

thank god for internet downloading.

anyway, regarding the ending...look at the end of series 5...it leaves us clues for the final series.

Johnny Sack is pinched...Phil Leotardo is fuming at not being able to act out his revenge on Tony B and is also rising quickly in the new Johnny Sack lead NY family. With Johnny away Leotardo is going to still wage his vendetta with the Soprano family.

Vito Spatafore is decidedly annoyed that Tony protected Tony B at the expense of Benny. "We should be taking him out"...."I am willing to die for a good cause...this is Bullsh*t!"...Vito is openly talking subversive....he will be almost certainly be whacked in series 6.

Ray Curto will give them "reems of sh*t" on Tony. Ray might be the star witness at Tony's RICO trial.

Dr. Melfi....hmmm cant work this one out yet. But surely something will happen.

Paulie was the mouth the Johnny sack all that time...put Tony is some really awkward positions...then he had to try and get good with tony again once he realised he was being used by johnny sack. There is definitely something major going to happen for Mr. Gaultieri.

So what other loose ends need tidying up?!
1: The Russian.
2: Patsy and his grief at losing his brother.
3: Vito being a "fanook"
4: Furio and Tony.
5: Master G....okay maybe a little far fetched to think this will rear its head again as a storyline.

Now...Gandolfini and Imperioli have both said they don't want to do a movie...they dont want to be typecast and they dont want to leave the Sopranos open for further development. Therefore i would arge the only ending for it, where everything is tied up forever...with no possible chance or parole (ho ho) is for Tony to die or to have a John Gotti like prison sentence put on him.

Tony will go to prison for 4 or 5 life sentences (something vaguely realistic...we know how they like to mimic reality at times)
Christopher will die in the war that will ensue with NY under Acting Boss Phil Leotardo.
Paulie will whack Vito Spatafore for Tony...and once Tony goes to prison assumes the title of boss of the family.
Uncle Junior will die of natural causes.

The odds are against Tony not getting pinched. Most bosses or acting bosses in NY or Jersey dont last as long as 4 or 5 years, like Tony.

The most normal thing would be they get him in a rico-trial. Seeing they do have some things already; like the airline tickets and a testimony from Ray Curto. The feds will probably try to get some bigger stuff through wiretape and seek some more witnesses.
The important thing is what they can sue him for. If they got a murder-case, he can forget getting out in the next 15-20 years.
If the charges are too much and the evidence and witnesses too strong, maybe he will rat. (But i dont think he would)

Otherwise if he only faces a couple of years he might just do his time and even make a plea-bargain.

The chance for every high-ranking wiseguy to get through life without spending a day in jail are very slim. So if you get away with about 5 years, you should be quite happy. Its the risk every mobster knows he is taking.