March 28, 2026 – David Chase is shedding new light on the deeply personal origins of The Sopranos, revealing that the groundbreaking series was, in part, a way to process painful experiences with his mother.
As his mobster-in-therapy masterpiece is named the best TV of the century, its creator says he was just thrashing out his own issues with his domineering, suffocating mother
Emma Brockes
Monday 16 September 2018
The first image David Chase had in mind for the show that became The Sopranoswas a closeup of Tony Soprano opening his eyes, “waking up for the day”. That scene ended up falling later in the pilot. The opening scene, as any of the show’s superfans will happily inform you, watches Tony eyeing up a sculpture in a therapist’s waiting room with baffled rage. The show is 20 years old this year, and if that makes you feel ancient, “think how I feel,” says creator David Chase, who, at 74, is ferocious looking, with beady black eyes and the intense, long-suffering air of the protagonist whose name has become synonymous with his own.
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