The sneaky way ‘The Sopranos’ hid Adriana’s brutal murder
Keeping secrets in Hollywood is notoriously difficult, with the press and eager fans constantly seeking out details about their favourite shows and movies. When The Sopranos creator David Chase was tasked with orchestrating the death of a major character, he devised a clever strategy to mislead anyone trying to uncover the plot twist. However, this approach inadvertently left the actor in a precarious position, as they were unclear about their character’s fate and the impending end of their role, complicating their efforts to plan their next career move.
In September 2024, HBO released the two-part documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos. It told the story of Chase’s life and career and gave insight into his day-to-day responsibilities as the main driving force behind the show.
When the documentary explored the iconic season five episode ‘Long Term Parking’, it was particularly illuminating. Despite being emotionally devastating, it has always been one of fans’ favourite episodes. You see, this was the episode in which Drea de Matteo’s Adriana La Cerva was murdered for being a “rat”, and Chase wanted to keep her fate under his hat for as long as possible. This meant he even kept it a little murky for de Matteo herself – which wound up backfiring on him.
“David sat me down on set,” recalled de Matteo in the documentary, “And he said, ‘I’m going to shoot this two ways. I’m going to shoot it where you get away, and I’m going to shoot it where they kill you.'” He explained that doing it this way would mean no one would know the character’s ultimate fate until the episode aired. Sadly, he felt that the cloak-and-dagger tactics were necessary because there were “confidentiality issues on the set. Nobody can know what’s really going on”.
De Matteo understood Chase’s concerns over secrecy, but she couldn’t help wanting some clarity on what would become of her. She asked: “But I’m going to be dead, and I’m not going to be on the show anymore?” To her surprise, Chase’s response was silence. He neither confirmed nor denied if she’d still have a job after the fifth season ended.
In the midst of this uncertainty, de Matteo did what most actors would do in that situation. She admitted, “I took another job because I didn’t know. I was scared.”
That job was the lead role of Gina, Joey Tribbiani’s sister, in the ill-fated Friends spin-off Joey. However, when de Matteo’s casting in Joey was publicised, everyone with half a brain knew it meant that Adriana wouldn’t last much longer on The Sopranos. She admitted that Chase was furious because now his efforts to keep her death a secret were for nothing.
For her part, though, de Matteo claimed she had no other option than to take the gig on Joey. After all, her showrunner hadn’t made it clear to her if she had a job to come back to. She said, “I had to take that job. I thought I’d never work again.” Being on The Sopranos had given her a profile in the industry for the first time, and she felt she had to strike while the iron was hot. She also knew she’d forever be associated with characters like Adriana, so if she was going to be stereotyped, she might as well take advantage of it by taking a lucrative sitcom job.
From Chase’s perspective, he confessed that he often tried to distance himself from the emotional baggage involved in worrying about people’s jobs. If the show’s narrative dictated a character had to be killed off, he would follow that impulse, even if it led to actors begging for their jobs.
He mused, “You know what? This is a mob show. People have got to go.”
