Widely proclaimed as the greatest drama ever created for television, “The Sopranos” came to an end tonight after 8 years, 86 episodes and 18 Emmy Awards.

And while no one in the cast was offering any hints of how Sunday night’s episode would end, a few smaller questions were answered. Like would there ever be a reference back to the famed Pine Barrens episode, in which Paulie and Christopher flailed around in the snow trying to kill a Russian? What is Bruce Springsteen’s favorite fight scene? And when did Christopher know he would be killed?

The only person who expressed neither regret nor reservations about walking away from “The Sopranos” was the man who spoke more of its lines than anyone. “Obviously this changed my life,” Mr. Gandolfini said. “But I’ve separated. I’m relieved.”

Keeping Tony alive, even figuratively, took its toll. Steven R. Schirripa, who played Tony’s brother-in-law, said that he had seen Mr. Gandolfini after filming had ended and that “he looked like someone who’d had a piano lifted off his back.”

Mr. Gandolfini took his leadership on the show seriously, most notably after his fractious salary holdout at the start of the show’s fifth season led HBO to shut down production. When he returned to the set, Mr. Gandolfini privately called a list of his colleagues to his trailer

and, one by one, presented them with personal checks for tens of thousands of dollars, telling them, in the words of one recipient, “Thanks for putting up with me.”

Of his television wife, played by Edie Falco , Mr. Gandolfini said: “Edie is kind of a force of nature. When we’d have a scene, and she’d get angry, I could feel sheepish.”

Despite what he called “the most satisfying work I feel I may ever have,” Mr. Gandolfini is not looking back. “No, I’m very done,” he said.

Then why did it end the way it did? The Buzz is, the ending sucked, but most definitely lead viewers to believe that there was more of ’something’ in the Sopranos future. A movie perhaps?

• “…Does anyone not think that ending means there is going to be another season?!”

• “I thought someone sat on the remote, but I heard that there’s going to be a movie and that’s why they left it at that”

• “I thought my cable went out. I was about to smack someone.”

• “I told my boyfriend to call when it was over and tell me what happened…LMAO he’s probably still too pissed to talk.”

In case you missed The Sopranos, here’s the first 8 years in 7 minutes.