"Made in America" is the series finale of the American crime drama television series The Sopranos. It is the 86th episode of the series overall, the ninth episode of the second part of the sixth season, and the 21st episode of the season overall. Written and directed by series creator David Chase, "Made in America" first aired on HBO in the United States on June 10, 2007.
The plot involves Tony Soprano attempting to end the war with rival Mafioso Phil Leotardo, and musing on its drastic consequences to those around him. Tony also seeks to secure his family's futures, and tie up loose ends with his associates and enemies.
The ending of "Made in America" was controversial upon airing, but received critical acclaim and has drawn various critical analyses, interpretations, and fan theories; Chase has made varied comments about the finale but has not explicitly given an explanation, opinion, or statement regarding the series' ending. The episode is now considered one of the greatest series finales of all time.
Synopsis Tony remains in hiding with his crew. Accompanied by Paulie, Tony meets FBI Agent Harris and gives him information about Ahmed and Muhammad in exchange for Phil's location, but Harris does not know anything. Tony visits his family in their safe house and later joins them at Bobby's funeral. Tony then visits Janice at her house, and she tells him she will raise Bobby's children, oblivious to how much they hate her. Later, Harris informs Tony that Phil has been using payphones from gas stations in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and Tony's crew begins surveilling the area.
Phil calls Butchie from a payphone, expresses anger about his failure to kill Tony, and rejects Butchie's suggestion to make peace. He also vaguely tells Butchie that they will sit down and talk about his ineffectiveness after Tony is dead. Tony meets with Butchie to negotiate without Phil's knowledge. Not knowing where Phil is hiding, Butchie cannot disclose his boss's location, but agrees to a truce and allows Tony to order a hit on Phil, and they also agree to make restitution to Janice and Bobby's family. Shortly after, Tony and his family move back into their North Caldwell home.
A.J. is unhappy with their current living situation, but continues to see Rhiannon Flammer despite his insistence to everyone that they are just friends and that she is only 17 years old. The couple are sitting in his car in the forest listening to music. The two attempt to have sex before A.J. notices that his car's engine has caught fire, prompting them to flee before it is entirely engulfed in flames. Tony and Carmela are furious with A.J. once he informs them that his car has been destroyed. A.J. later tells them he intends to join the Army, but they arrange for him to work for Little Carmine's film production company instead. Meadow and Patrick Parisi announce their engagement and that Meadow may land a high-paying job at a law firm that defends white collar criminals, to Tony's disappointment. Tony visits the comatose Silvio in the hospital.
Carlo goes missing, and Paulie fears he may have become an informant after his son Jason Gervasi was arrested on a drug-related charge. Tony's lawyer, Neil Mink, tells Tony that Carlo is likely an informant, and that Tony will be indicted. With Carlo gone, Tony offers the leadership of the Aprile crew to Paulie, who initially rejects the offer; when Tony states Paulie's underling Patsy will take it otherwise, Paulie reluctantly accepts.
Phil Leotardo is dropped off at one of the remaining gas stations with a payphone. As he talks to his wife, he is executed by Walden Belfiore who has been watching the location with Benny Fazio. His wife gets out, screaming, leaving the SUV in drive; it proceeds to roll over and crush Phil's head.
Janice visits Junior (who is now toothless and in an advanced state of dementia) to inform him of Bobby's death, but Junior's declining health has left him unable to understand. Uncle Pat tells Tony he believes Janice is scheming to claim Junior's remaining money for herself. Tony visits Junior and tells him to give the money to Bobby's children, but realizes Junior no longer knows who he is. When Tony tries to remind Junior of his mafia life and how he and his brother ran North Jersey, Junior replies, "Well, that's nice." A teary-eyed Tony leaves.
The Sopranos arrange to meet at Holsten's diner. Tony tells Carmela that Carlo has flipped and will testify, while A.J. reminds his father of his advice to remember the good times. Tony remains alert, and has been looking up at every patron entering the diner. A man in a Members Only jacket who has been watching them gets up to use the bathroom. Meadow arrives late after having trouble parking her car. As the diner door opens, the bell rings and Tony looks up. The screen cuts to black.
Cast James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi * Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti ** Dominic Chianese as Corrado "Junior" Soprano Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr. Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano Baccalieri Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo Ray Abruzzo as Little Carmine Lupertazzi Dan Grimaldi as Patsy Parisi Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante * = credit only ** = photo only
Guest stars
Deceased Phil Leotardo: Shot to death by Walden Belfiore. His head was then run over and crushed by his wife's truck, which was still in drive when she rushed to his aid.
Production Conception Showrunner David Chase planned The Sopranos ending during the 21-month hiatus between seasons 5 and 6; the final scene was filmed as Chase had envisioned, while then-HBO chairman Chris Albrecht suggested concluding the series with the sixth season. The finale was not intended as a setup for a sequel. However, Chase later commented, "There may be a day where we all come up with something". Although a sequel was ultimately not developed, a prequel film titled The Many Saints of Newark was released in 2021.
Writing As with every episode of the season, the plot outline of "Made in America" was developed by Chase and his writing staff; for the final season, this consisted of executive producers Terence Winter and Matthew Weiner, and supervising producers and writing team Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider. Frequent episode director Tim Van Patten also provided Chase with storyline suggestions. After the episode's story was outlined, Chase wrote the first draft. After input from the staff, Chase revised the script, but continued to make minor changes during filming. "Made in America" is his 30th and final official writing credit (including story credits) for the series and his ninth as sole writer of an episode.
Chase again included allusions to real-life American Mafia history and events in the script for "Made in America". Specifically, the line "Damn! We're gonna win this thing!", spoken by Dwight Harris after being informed of Phil Leotardo's death, is quoted from former FBI supervisor Lindley DeVecchio. DeVecchio said the line after being told Lorenzo "Larry" Lampasi had been killed in front of his Brooklyn home. DeVecchio was later charged for informing the Mafia on various accounts, which Dwight later does for Tony Soprano.
Filming
"Made in America" was directed by Chase and photographed by Alik Sakharov. The two served in the same capacities for the pilot episode, "The Sopranos", which was filmed in 1997. The series finale marks the second time Chase has officially directed an episode of The Sopranos, although as showrunner, he would oversee the direction of most episodes throughout the show's production. "Made in America" marks the 38th and final credit for Sakharov as director of photography.
Principal photography commenced in late February and concluded in late March 2007. Exterior scenes and certain interior scenes of "Made in America" were filmed on location in Bergen County, New Jersey, and in Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York City, New York. Additional interior scenes—including indoor shots of the Soprano residence and the back room of the Bada Bing! strip club—were filmed in a sound stage in Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, New York.
The final scene was filmed in March 2007 at Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery, an ice cream and candy shop located in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The Bloomfield Township Council tried to stop HBO from filming in the town because they found the series offensive to Italian-Americans and voted to deny the production company a filming permit. As the council had no authority to stop filming in the town as long as the crew met the requirements stated in Bloomfield's code for filming crews, a permit was issued.
To prevent leaks of the episode's ending or plot details, the scripts given to crew members had their final pages removed or given ones with alternate endings. In one example, the ending scene featured Tony raking leaves outside his house, which is a scene that occurs 10 minutes before the ending in the final cut; Chase received compliments for this ending from those with the edited script. The scene where Phil Leotardo was killed was filmed in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
Post-production "Made in America" was edited by Sidney Wolinsky, one of the show's three editors, under the supervision of Chase. Chase originally wanted the black screen at the end of the episode to last "all the way to the HBO whoosh sound", meaning that no credits would roll at the end of the episode, but did not receive a waiver from the Directors Guild of America to do so.
Music In the scene in which Anthony Jr.'s vehicle catches fire while parked on leaves, Anthony and Rhiannon are listening to "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" from the album Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan. In the final scene, "All That You Dream" by Little Feat plays on the restaurant's speakers as Tony enters the diner ahead of his family. The song "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey then plays throughout the rest of the scene. Steve Perry initially refused to clear the song for use, fearing it would be remembered for being part of a death sequence; Chase promised otherwise, and Perry ultimately gave final approval three days before the episode aired. Immediately following the episode, the song saw a huge surge in popularity, with its sales on iTunes growing by 482%; its use in the series is credited with reviving mainstream attention for Journey, who reportedly suffered financial difficulties in the 2000s.
Analysis and interpretation The final scene of "Made in America" became the subject of intense discussion, controversy, and analysis after its original broadcast. The use of an abrupt cut to black followed by several seconds of silence led many viewers to initially believe that their cable or DVR had cut out at a crucial moment. Opposing interpretations soon emerged among viewers regarding the ultimate fate of series protagonist Tony Soprano, with some believing that he was killed while others believe that he remains alive (the final shot has led many to speculate that if still alive, Tony will spend the rest of his life in true gangster fashion, "looking over his shoulder").