( CNN ) '' Sopranos '' theorists now have a little more to chew on . Show creator David Chase went through the famous final scene for DGA Quarterly and revealed the reasoning behind each shot . What he did n't reveal , however , was whether series protagonist Tony Soprano lives or dies . Chase 's details are a master class on how to build tension in a seemingly nondescript situation , however . 'Sopranos ' ending ? Let it be . For those who do n't recall the finale , which aired in June 2007 , mobster Tony Soprano is meeting his family for dinner at Holsten 's , a real-life diner and ice cream parlor in Bloomfield , New Jersey . He picks a song on the jukebox : Journey 's `` Do n't Stop Believin ' . '' As the music plays , he waits in a booth , watching his wife and later his son come through the front door . His daughter is running late . It 's a seemingly harmless get-together , one that could have happened any time in Tony 's life , but it 's fraught with tension , Chase observes . The Journey song `` starts to build and build into something '' ; a bell rings every time someone walks through the door , and Tony looks up each time . And then there 's the man in the Members Only jacket who walks in just ahead of A.J. , Tony 's son . He could be anybody , but given Tony 's life , he could a hitman assigned to kill Tony . `` The tension is quite high now , but if you think about it , for no real reason , '' Chase told DGA Quarterly . `` Who 's in the place ? A guy in a jacket , Cub Scouts , a young couple , a trucker in a hat , a couple of black guys in there to buy some candy . There 's no real reason for the tension to ratchet up . But it does . And that 's what I love , how you make that . '' There are nods to other films , Chase observed . The way the scene is cut recalls the final bedroom scene of Stanley Kubrick 's `` 2001 : A Space Odyssey , '' with Tony seeing himself at the next spot in time . The Members Only guy going to the bathroom is a nod to the famous scene in `` The Godfather '' when Michael Corleone shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey . The scene ends , of course , with Tony looking up as Journey 's Steve Perry sings `` Do n't stop -- '' and then a cut to black . The public reaction caught Chase by surprise . `` I thought the ending would be somewhat jarring , sure . But not to the extent it was , and not a subject of such discussion , '' he said . `` The biggest feeling I was going for , honestly , was do n't stop believing . '' Still , if anybody is hoping that Chase reveals whether Tony survives , they 'll have to keep digging . The end is deliberately uncertain and existential , Chase said . `` Whether this is the end here , or not , it 's going to come at some point for the rest of us , '' he said . `` I 'm not saying that ( he was killed ) . But obviously he stood more of a chance of getting shot by a rival gang mob than you or I do because he put himself in that situation . `` All I know , '' he added , `` is the end is coming for all of us . ''
David Chase walks through the ending of `` The Sopranos '' The use of particular shots and `` Do n't Stop Believin ' `` build tension . Chase still does n't reveal Tony Soprano 's fate .