David Chase Was Annoyed That Viewers Wanted Tony Soprano Dead
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The Guardian reports that David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, has spoken about his irritation at viewers who wanted Tony Soprano to die at the end of the series. Chase, who directed the final episode and was the show's showrunner, said he was bothered by viewers' insistence on seeing the fate of James Gandolfini's mob boss confirmed: they wanted to know that Tony was killed.
Chase said he knew Tony was a criminal, but he asked viewers not to claim they did not love him in some way, or were not on his side in some way, after watching him for seven years.
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He says what annoyed him was how many people wanted to see Tony killed, and the scale is the interesting part. One viewer wanting the character dead is a taste; a crowd wanting it starts to look like a verdict.
But the desire for closure is not the same as bloodlust. Tony is a mob boss; wanting to know whether he gets killed is the minimum curiosity the premise invites.
Maybe not bloodlust, but Chase's complaint is about the price of admission: love the character, side with him, then demand the ending that settles him. That is a strange bargain, and he is allowed to find it ungrateful.