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‘Sopranos’ creator Chase is still family boss
Show is now planned out through the end — but that could change
 | David Chase, creator and producer of the hit HBO series "The Sopranos," would have been happy to keep the episodes freestanding. |
Diane Bondareff / AP file |
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NEW YORK - Warning: Contains possible "Sopranos" spoilers.
Even as “The Sopranos” returns Sunday with its first new episode since June 6, 2004, long-deprived fans can be pardoned for wondering: What took David Chase so long?
Clearing his head? Racking his brain?
It turns out that, whatever Chase was up to as he prepared to push beyond the 65 installments aired thus far, the “Sopranos” mastermind spent his time well.
To judge from four previewed episodes, the season that awaits us (9 p.m. ET Sunday on HBO) is richer, deeper and more thrilling than ever as it probes the world of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano.
How has Chase done it?
“I give a lot of weight to luck,” he says.
A slight man with sad, seen-it-all eyes and a wry sense of humor, Chase has greeted a reporter to the “Sopranos” production offices at Silvercup Studios in Queens. The airy loft space is the polar opposite of the tomblike back office frequented by Tony (series star James Gandolfini) and his crew at the Bada Bing! strip club. Here are 30-foot ceilings and broad windows displaying the Queensborough Bridge arching over to Manhattan.
But despite the cheery setting, “don’t get too comfortable” stayed on Chase’s mind as he crafted this sixth season.
“We are here for a certain period of time,” he says, trying to sum up the season’s overriding theme, “and how much of your life are you gonna choose to spend with distractions? How do you make your choices? What is important?”
‘Dead, or in the can’
Sounds like, on some level, the end is closer than we think. Gulp.
Of course, fans are full of end-is-near talk concerning the show. Somewhat premature? A dozen episodes are ready to go, then another eight air early next year. That means almost one-fourth of the ultimate 85-episode “Sopranos” canon is yet to be seen.
Cold comfort for insatiable “Sopranos” fans. And in direct proportion to our growing dismay that the series must, indeed, eventually conclude is our gnawing curiosity: How will it all end?
Years ago, Tony Soprano imagined his options during a gloomy psychiatric session: “dead, or in the can.”
But it will be Chase — who has a writing or co-writing credit on some 20 episodes and supervises all the rest, along with every other detail of the series — who will make that final call. He is the supreme being who concocts The Chart, from which all narratives and scripts emanate. The Chart, whose episode-by-episode and character-by-character coordinates pin down “The Sopranos”’ destiny. The Chart is finished, Chase says.
Granted, it’s subject to revision.
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