The Sopranos
Ended Crime Drama

The Sopranos

📅 Jan 1999 📺 6 Season(s)
8.9
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
TVmaze rating / 10
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Synopsis

The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.

🎭 Stars & Actors

James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini
Tony Soprano
Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Carmela Soprano
Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli
Christopher Moltisanti
Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt
Silvio Dante
Tony Sirico
Tony Sirico
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri
Robert Iler
Robert Iler
Anthony Soprano
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Meadow Soprano
Lorraine Bracco
Lorraine Bracco
Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Dominic Chianese
Dominic Chianese
Corrado "Junior" Soprano
Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro
Janice Soprano
Steven R. Schirripa
Steven R. Schirripa
Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri
Drea de Matteo
Drea de Matteo
Adriana La Cerva

Why it is worth knowing

The Sopranos is an American crime drama created by David Chase and broadcast across six seasons. James Gandolfini plays Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mob leader who begins therapy with Dr Jennifer Melfi after panic attacks. Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese, Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler build the family and criminal worlds surrounding him. The series combines violence, domestic routine, dreams, comedy and psychological observation. Tony's ability to describe his feelings does not automatically make him change, so the show remains a study of self-knowledge, power and repeated choice rather than a simple redemption story.

Themes and ideas

What The Sopranos explores

Tony belongs to two families whose needs overlap and conflict. He calls criminal loyalty tradition while treating people as replaceable when authority is threatened. Therapy gives him language for anxiety, his mother and his upbringing, but insight can become another tool used to excuse or manage behaviour. Masculinity is performed through appetite, anger, money and silence, while panic reveals what that performance cannot contain. The series also studies inheritance: children receive comfort built from harm, younger criminals repeat stories of an older generation, and nostalgia hides how unstable the past really was. Ordinary pleasure sits beside violence, making moral compartmentalisation visible.

Season and episode guide

Season 1

See how it all started! Season 1 of HBO's hit series The Sopranos takes a realistic, darkly humorous look at members of a suburban New Jersey family, whose patriarch Tony Soprano happens to be a mob boss. 

13 episodes · 1999
  1. 1. Pilot (Jan 11, 1999)
  2. 2. 46 Long (Jan 18, 1999)
  3. 3. Denial, Anger, Acceptance (Jan 25, 1999)
  4. 4. Meadowlands (Feb 1, 1999)
  5. 5. College (Feb 8, 1999)
  6. 6. Pax Soprana (Feb 15, 1999)
  7. 7. Down Neck (Feb 22, 1999)
  8. 8. The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (Mar 1, 1999)
  9. 9. Boca (Mar 8, 1999)
  10. 10. A Hit is a Hit (Mar 15, 1999)
  11. 11. Nobody Knows Anything (Mar 22, 1999)
  12. 12. Isabella (Mar 29, 1999)
  13. 13. I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano (Apr 5, 1999)

Season 2

His uncle's in jail. His mother's in the hospital. His best friend's still missing. His sister's moving home. And his panic attacks are back. For mob boss Tony Soprano, life at the top isn't all it's cracked up to be in Season 2 of this hit series.

13 episodes · 2000
  1. 1. Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office (Jan 17, 2000)
  2. 2. Do Not Resuscitate (Jan 24, 2000)
  3. 3. Toodle-Fucking-Oo (Jan 31, 2000)
  4. 4. Commendatori (Feb 7, 2000)
  5. 5. Big Girls Don't Cry (Feb 14, 2000)
  6. 6. The Happy Wanderer (Feb 21, 2000)
  7. 7. D-Girl (Feb 28, 2000)
  8. 8. Full Leather Jacket (Mar 6, 2000)
  9. 9. From Where to Eternity (Mar 13, 2000)
  10. 10. Bust Out (Mar 20, 2000)
  11. 11. House Arrest (Mar 27, 2000)
  12. 12. Knight in White Satin Armor (Apr 3, 2000)
  13. 13. Funhouse (Apr 10, 2000)

Season 3

In Season 3 of HBO's hit series, the federal wiretap begins as Livia dies and Meadow goes to college. But Tony faces challenges from some tough newcomers, such as hothead Ralph Cifaretto, New York crime boss Johnny Sack and a sexy car saleswoman.

13 episodes · 2001
  1. 1. Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood (Mar 5, 2001)
  2. 2. Proshai, Livushka (Mar 5, 2001)
  3. 3. Fortunate Son (Mar 12, 2001)
  4. 4. Employee of the Month (Mar 19, 2001)
  5. 5. Another Toothpick (Mar 26, 2001)
  6. 6. University (Apr 2, 2001)
  7. 7. Second Opinion (Apr 9, 2001)
  8. 8. He is Risen (Apr 16, 2001)
  9. 9. The Telltale Moozadell (Apr 23, 2001)
  10. 10. To Save Us All from Satan's Power (Apr 30, 2001)
  11. 11. Pine Barrens (May 7, 2001)
  12. 12. Amour Fou (May 14, 2001)
  13. 13. Army of One (May 21, 2001)

Season 4

It's tough times in Jersey for Tony Soprano. The sluggish economy hasn't been good for the family business...and the ducks aren't coming back anytime soon. 

13 episodes · 2002
  1. 1. For All Debts Public and Private (Sep 16, 2002)
  2. 2. No Show (Sep 23, 2002)
  3. 3. Christopher (Sep 30, 2002)
  4. 4. The Weight (Oct 7, 2002)
  5. 5. Pie-O-My (Oct 14, 2002)
  6. 6. Everybody Hurts (Oct 21, 2002)
  7. 7. Watching Too Much Television (Oct 28, 2002)
  8. 8. Mergers & Acquisitions (Nov 4, 2002)
  9. 9. Whoever Did This (Nov 11, 2002)
  10. 10. The Strong, Silent Type (Nov 18, 2002)
  11. 11. Calling All Cars (Nov 25, 2002)
  12. 12. Eloise (Dec 2, 2002)
  13. 13. Whitecaps (Dec 9, 2002)

Season 5

A separated Tony and Carmela negotiate family and money issues in Season 5 of HBO's hit series. Meanwhile, Tony's reunion with paroled cousin Tony Blundetto may endanger his alliance with Johnny Sack; and Adriana gets in deeper with the Feds.

13 episodes · 2004
  1. 1. Two Tonys (Mar 8, 2004)
  2. 2. Rat Pack (Mar 15, 2004)
  3. 3. Where's Johnny? (Mar 22, 2004)
  4. 4. All Happy Families... (Mar 29, 2004)
  5. 5. Irregular Around the Margins (Apr 5, 2004)
  6. 6. Sentimental Education (Apr 12, 2004)
  7. 7. In Camelot (Apr 19, 2004)
  8. 8. Marco Polo (Apr 26, 2004)
  9. 9. Unidentified Black Males (May 3, 2004)
  10. 10. Cold Cuts (May 10, 2004)
  11. 11. The Test Dream (May 17, 2004)
  12. 12. Long Term Parking (May 24, 2004)
  13. 13. All Due Respect (Jun 7, 2004)

Season 6

In Season 6 of the hit series, a shocking event brings about a different Tony Soprano...even as he must deal with problems involving his kids, his crew and his rivals.

21 episodes · 2006
  1. 1. Members Only (Mar 13, 2006)
  2. 2. Join the Club (Mar 20, 2006)
  3. 3. Mayham (Mar 27, 2006)
  4. 4. The Fleshy Part of the Thigh (Apr 3, 2006)
  5. 5. Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request... (Apr 10, 2006)
  6. 6. Live Free or Die (Apr 17, 2006)
  7. 7. Luxury Lounge (Apr 24, 2006)
  8. 8. Johnny Cakes (May 1, 2006)
  9. 9. The Ride (May 8, 2006)
  10. 10. Moe n' Joe (May 15, 2006)
  11. 11. Cold Stones (May 22, 2006)
  12. 12. Kaisha (Jun 5, 2006)
  13. 13. Soprano Home Movies (Apr 9, 2007)
  14. 14. Stage 5 (Apr 16, 2007)
  15. 15. Remember When (Apr 23, 2007)
  16. 16. Chasing It (Apr 30, 2007)
  17. 17. Walk Like a Man (May 7, 2007)
  18. 18. Kennedy and Heidi (May 14, 2007)
  19. 19. The Second Coming (May 21, 2007)
  20. 20. The Blue Comet (Jun 4, 2007)
  21. 21. Made in America (Jun 11, 2007)

In-depth guide

Six seasons across home, therapy and organised crime

The pilot introduces Tony's panic attacks, tension with his mother Livia, conflicts inside his criminal organisation and concern about what his children understand. Dr Melfi treats him without initially knowing every detail, then faces the ethical and personal consequences of continuing. Across six seasons, Tony manages disputes involving Uncle Junior, nephew Christopher Moltisanti, captains and New York families while his wife Carmela questions the source and moral cost of their life. Meadow and AJ grow from children into young adults who respond differently to family privilege. The sixth season was released in two parts and is sometimes listed as seasons six and seven by platforms, but it is one official season of 21 episodes. Watch all 86 episodes in broadcast order. The prequel film The Many Saints of Newark was released later and should follow the series because its framing and character identities assume knowledge of the television story.

Verified Jul 16, 2026

Gandolfini and Falco make contradiction continuous

James Gandolfini gives Tony warmth, humour, appetite, fear and brutality without asking the audience to combine them into innocence. Small changes in breathing and attention can turn a domestic conversation into threat. Edie Falco makes Carmela loving, perceptive and actively involved in maintaining a life whose source she understands. Lorraine Bracco gives Melfi professional curiosity and growing concern about whether treatment helps Tony change or simply function more effectively. Michael Imperioli makes Christopher ambitious, insecure and vulnerable to addiction while seeking a father figure in the man who controls him. Nancy Marchand's Livia turns complaint and helplessness into forms of power. Dominic Chianese gives Junior pride and eventual fragility, while Steven Van Zandt and Tony Sirico create distinct versions of loyalty as Silvio and Paulie. The ensemble makes tonal movement possible: a scene can be funny because people know one another well, then become frightening because the same intimacy reveals a weakness.

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New Jersey spaces, music and dream logic

Location work in homes, restaurants, strip clubs, offices and roads gives the series a suburban geography different from a romanticised old-city mob world. The Soprano house displays comfort and emotional distance, while the Bada Bing and pork store provide repeated workplaces where criminal business enters routine conversation. Directors and cinematographers shift visual style across years without losing the grounded environment. Music is selected from rock, soul, pop, opera and other traditions, often ending episodes with an unresolved emotional association rather than a summary. The opening drive connects Tony's movement from New York toward New Jersey with identity and territory. Dream episodes use altered spaces and unexpected dialogue to represent fear, memory and intuition without providing a code in which every object has one answer. Editing allows long family meals, therapy sessions and silent reactions to matter as much as criminal action. The series helped expand expectations for patient, morally difficult television drama.

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Understanding Tony is not the same as excusing him

Therapy invites the audience to search for causes: Livia's behaviour, family history, inherited crime and panic all matter. Yet the series repeatedly gives Tony moments where he recognises harm and chooses power or comfort anyway. Psychological explanation therefore increases responsibility instead of erasing it. Viewers can be drawn to Gandolfini's humour and vulnerability while noticing how charisma shifts attention away from victims. Carmela faces a related moral conflict. She seeks spiritual and professional permission to keep wealth without accepting its source, then sometimes sees the answer more clearly than Tony does. Christopher's artistic ambition and addiction reveal how the organisation absorbs alternative futures. The final scene refuses a conventional moral accounting delivered as spectacle. Its form asks viewers to examine attention, expectation and the ordinary life surrounding constant danger. Ending debate is worthwhile, but reducing six seasons to one theory misses the accumulated study of habits that precedes it.

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Adult content, season listings and ending spoilers

The Sopranos contains graphic murder, beatings, suicide, domestic abuse, sexual content, nudity, sex work, addiction, strong language, racist and homophobic speech, animal harm and sustained organised crime. It is strictly for adults. Several stories involve sexual assault, self-harm and violence within families, so episode-level warnings may be necessary. There are 86 episodes. Platforms may label the final 21 as season six parts one and two or as separate seasons, but broadcast order remains clear. Avoid searching for final-scene explanations or character lists before watching because many common discussions reveal deaths. The Many Saints of Newark is optional and belongs after the series. The pacing mixes eventful crime episodes with therapy, dreams and domestic routines; viewers expecting constant action may need time to adjust. Availability changes by region, and ratings should be checked through official listings.

Verified Jul 16, 2026

Frequently asked questions

How many seasons of The Sopranos are there?

There are six official seasons and 86 episodes. The long sixth season was released in two parts.

Should I watch The Many Saints of Newark first?

No. Watch The Sopranos first, then the prequel film, because the film assumes familiarity with the series and can reveal outcomes.

Does The Sopranos have a confirmed ending explanation?

The final scene is deliberately constructed around viewpoint and uncertainty. Many interpretations exist, but the series does not provide a later scene resolving every detail.

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