If you watch the entire series, the answer is clear. There are tons and tons of foreshadowing events. Spoiler alert : do not read any more if haven't seen the series! So, remember the character Eugene? He's one of the top hit men in the Soprano crime family. His last appearance, he is seen wearing a very particular sort of jacket that is pointed out in the plot and also his last episode is named after the type of jacket. Eugene is trying to leave the mob life and is ordered by Chris to kill someone in a restaurant. Wearing his jacket, Eugene does the hit at the restaurant. In another episode, Silvio is at a restaurant when a hit man takes out the friend. Silvio goes deaf and has no idea what is going on for a good long moment or two. Later in the series, Tony is talking to Bobby about how things end and Bobby says everything just cuts to black when you die. In the final scene in the series, Tony is at a restaurant and sees a man wearing exactly the same jacket at Eugene wore, and the man wearing the jacket even looks similar to other characters. If you keep your eye on the suspicious man, you'll notice that the last we see him, he goes behind Tony Soprano, presumably to step into the bathroom. The very last thing we see in the show is Tony looking up, then everything cuts to black exactly as Bobby said would happen when you die. To me, this leaves the ending 99% clear. I suppose you could take that 1% uncertainty and really run with it.

6/10/2024, I have watched The Sopranos television series twice, when it was first aired on HBO during 1999 to 2007, and recently by watching the complete DVD series collection. Despite how the ending scene at Holsten’s restaurant does not show Tony getting killed, the suspicious guy with the Members Only jacket staring at Tony looks angry when he walked in the entrance door. So obviously he is the shooter. David Chase the producer gave some clues on the series, leading to Tony's death. Clues: Tony said in the Johnny Cakes 73rd episode that his favorite scene in Godfather is Michael Corleone coming out of the restroom to kill Sollozzo and the Chief. From The Godfather (1972): https://youtu.be/ppjyB2MpxBU?si=GoniUF8XB3b6bx2T Now in the Soprano Home Movies 78th episode when Tony visits Bobby at the lake house, they go on a boat ride, and on the boat, Bobby asks Tony: "You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?" https://youtu.be/_RHvYRU2Aow?si=gzrurowiHV8q1MD5 Bobby tried to rationalize the deaths of his fellow mobsters, indicating that a shot to a person's head happens so fast. In these 2 clues, Tony keeps getting distracted when he is seeing who is coming through the door every time the bell 🛎 at the entrance door rings. The show ends were (Tony’s consciousness ends in the blackout), since the bullet that hit his head at a close range traveled faster than the speed of sound, causing his brain 🧠 to completely shatter. Tony was shot on the right side of the head. In the 4:28 minute of the Final and Last scene video, David Chase gave the viewers a *hint* of where the camera was positioned. It is exactly what the shooter saw 👀 when he was coming out of the restroom and approaching Tony - a clear shot. Tony did not see it coming. If Meadow did not struggle to park her car, she would have been sitting next to Tony, making it hard for the shooter to get a clear shot at Tony. The shooter found the opportunity, and it was lights out for Tony, as the song Don't Stop Believin' by Journey he was listening to also cut off in the blackout.