Michael Imperioli on why The Sopranos still rules 20 years on

Two decades after The Sopranos’ controversial finale, Michael Imperioli explains why the series had to end that way and reflects on the iconic show’s lasting legacy.

Michael Imperioli with James Gandolfini in The Sopranos.

When The Sopranos finally came to an end nearly 12 years ago, it said goodbye with one of the most famous, perplexing and divisive TV finales ever aired.

After six seasons of lying, cheating, stealing and killing his way to the top, Mob boss Tony Soprano — so magnificently played by the late, great James Gandolfini — is just about the last man standing but his rivals and the law are closing in.

A mysterious man in the diner where Tony is eating with his family disappears into a bath room, a bell rings, Tony looks up and the screen fades to black on the groundbreaking HBO series for the last time.

THE SOPRANOS BEHIND-THE-SCENES SECRETS

HEARTBREAKING DECISION FOR SOPRANOS STAR

SOPRANOS PREQUEL IN THE WORKS

It’s twenty years this month since the first episode and the question as to whether the troubled, violent, deceptively charming head of the Soprano clan lived or died remains unanswered.

Series creator David Chase says he’ll never tell, but Michael Imperioli, who played Tony’s nephew Christopher Moltisanti and also wrote for the award-winning drama, says the ambiguity shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“I always interpreted it as dead,” he says.

“But that’s just my opinion.”

The Sopranos stars Tony Sirico, Steven Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore.

“With David you can always expect the unexpected. He wasn’t someone who placed a great deal of faith or importance on closure and at the end of an episode everything wrapping up quite nicely. He liked the idea of questions. A lot of people felt kind of cheated and they wanted some kind of closure and a definitive ending for the show — but we’re certainly still talking about it to this day.

“I think by this point after doing a show for seven seasons there is nothing that could have brought closure in a satisfying way. So I think the ambiguity of what he did was kind of genius.”

Imperioli was with The Sopranos from the very beginning, when the pilot was shot, but it wasn’t until the actor/writer started to get the scripts for the first season a year later that he started to grasp the breadth and ambition of the show and realised he was on to something special that could hold its own among some of the great Mafia movies such as The Godfather and Goodfellas, in which he had a small but memorable part.

The sprawling saga of the New Jersey crime family and its volatile and mentally unstable head changed the face of television and helped usher in a golden age that would produce classics such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

Actor James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in scene from the TV program 'The Sopranos'.

Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti — the murderous psychopath.

“I think it really showed that television could be a lot more complex than it had been in the past and you could use more of a novelistic style of storytelling rather than an episodic style of storytelling in which each week you would have a stand-alone episode and the next week you would have the same group of characters in a different situation,” he says.

“The Sopranos allowed a story to be told in a much more evolving fashion and that was really new. And then you had it on cable, which allowed it to be a bit more liberal in its use of language and sexuality and violence and things like that. So it had a more cinematic quality brought to television that had not been done before.”

Imperioli says he always liked Christopher, who Chase turned into an aspiring screenwriter to mirror the actor’s own talents, and says he admired the character’s work ethic and ambition, even as he wrestled with his impulses and addictions.

“He wasn’t just entitled and sat back and felt the world owed him a living and I really admired that about him,” he says, before adding with a chuckle, “I mean, I didn’t admire the fact that he was a murderous psychopath — but as an actor you have to find ways of respecting the character, even if you don’t agree with his lifestyle.”

Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico (Pauly) at HBO's "The Sopranos" 20th anniversary at the SVA Theatre. Picture: Invision/AP

Imperioli says (SPOILER ALERT!) he knew Christopher wouldn’t make it to the end of Season 6 well in advance but says that his demise at the hands of the very man he idolised and loved was both necessary and fitting.

“It was very important that late in the series for the audience to see Tony doing something very selfish and very horrible,” he says.

“Because Tony was in many ways a very likeable character, it was one of the charms and the draws of the show, that people really liked the character.

“And it was important towards the end there for the audience to see that at the end of the day this guy is a stone-cold killer. And whatever he needs to do to protect himself, he is going to do. He’s not just this warm and fuzzy Tony Soprano who we have come to know and love — don’t forget who this guy really is.”

Imperioli is heading to Australia later this year with co-stars Steven Schirripa (Bobby Baccala) and Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy) for In Conversation With the Sopranos.

The actor, who went on to appear in police dramas Law & Order, Life On Mars and Detroit 1-8-7 says he often talks to filmmakers about the effect The Sopranos had on their life and careers but also relishes the chance to get out and meet the fans.

“They can find out what it was like doing the show and how we thought about the show and each other,” he says.

“It’s an opportunity for people who have watched the show again and again over the years — these people who have known us for 20 years — to actually see us in person and getting to say thank you to people for watching.”

WATCH The Sopranos, Foxtel BoxSets, from Sunday or On Demand.

In Conversation With the Sopranos, Palais Theatre, June 1. Ticketmaster

In Conversation With the Sopranos, Enmore Theatre, May 25. Ticketek

In Conversation With the Sopranos, The Star, Gold Coast, May 26. Ticketek

In Conversation With the Sopranos, Crown Theatre, Perth, May 39. Ticketmaster

In Conversation With the Sopranos, Thebarton Theatre, May 30, Ticketmaster

The Herald Sun app is simply better
Tailor your experience to get more of the stories you want. Packed with easy-to-use features including live sport scores, Herald Sun digital edition daily, breaking news feed, puzzles and persistent log-in for subscribers. For Apple and Android