Sopranos Stars Reunite To Give The Worst Possible Alternate Ending
Fans of the HBO classic crime drama The Sopranos have their fair share of cast reunions to check out, in the form of films like Killing Them Softly, Not Fade Away, and Nicky Deuce, as well as the 2021 Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. Still, none of these projects have seen James Gandolfini and Edie Falco reprise their leading roles as Tony and Carmela Soprano. That esteemed honor can only be granted to a bizarre minute-long promotional video that was initially shot in 2010 and recently resurfaced on the internet after years of being completely lost to time.
The video opens with text that indicates we’re seeing Tony and Carmela two years after the infamous cut-to-black ending of The Sopranos.
The video, which was developed as part of a promotional campaign to convince NBA legend LeBron James to join the New York Knicks, sees Tony and Carmela Soprano conversing about how to best entice the pro athlete to move to the East Coast. It features a brief conversation about LeBron’s respect for tradition, a few cheeky winks and nods to the camera, and a warm vibe that truly makes you feel like you’re spending a moment with the Soprano family once again. Unfortunately, it also provides some absurd implications, which make for the worst alternate ending to the series humanly possible.
It opens with text that indicates we’re seeing Tony and Carmela two years after the infamous cut-to-black ending of The Sopranos. As we fade in, Carmela offers the exposition “Tony, I’m so glad we moved to New York. Life is so much better now,” which prompts Gandolfini to reply “Yeah, life’s good here Carm. Even if we are in the witness protection program.”
This implies that Tony did not die in the series’ ambiguous final moments but instead became a snitch for the federal government and implicated his friends and associates by taking the witness stand.
Obviously, this line of dialogue is meant to be an intentional joke, as James Gandolfini mugs the camera like Michael Scott from The Office. Still, the line has hilariously backward implications beyond the obvious absurdity of Tony turning his back on his entire identity.
While Falco previously spoke on the existence of this video back in 2021, nobody had actually seen the final product since it was shot over 14 years ago.
For starters, why would the federal government agree to cut a deal with the boss of the North Jersey mob, which sees him walking free after fewer than two total years in a penitentiary? Furthermore, who did he even give up to the feds in the first place, since nearly all of his high-ranking associates are dead and buried by the time The Sopranos comes to a close?
Possibly the most baffling thing about this video is the suggestion that Tony and Carmela were moved 20 minutes East by the feds, placing them directly in enemy territory. If Tony were admitted into the witness protection program, it certainly wouldn’t bode well to put him in New York, where whatever remains of the Lupertazzi crime family could stumble onto him in a chance encounter at the grocery store.
I mean, even Vito Spatafore had the good sense to go all the way out to Yonkers when he was moonlighting as the biker in the Village People.
This implies that Tony did not die in the series’ ambiguous final moments but instead became a snitch for the federal government and implicated his friends and associates by taking the witness stand.
Canonical inconsistencies aside, it is shocking and refreshing to see James Gandolfini and Edie Falco reunited together on camera. While Falco previously spoke on the existence of this video back in 2021, nobody had actually seen the final product since it was shot over 14 years ago. Apparently, the full version includes a number of major celebrities outside of The Sopranos, including Chris Rock, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, and Spike Lee. Alas, LeBron never did make the move over to New York, thus closing the chapter on the wackiest Sopranos alternate ending the world has ever known.
