James Gandolfini asked HBO executives to fire him from “The Sopranos”

The menacing gangster Tony Soprano was the key to the success of The Sopranos – and James Gandolfini knew it.

The three-time Emmy winner once used his pivotal role on the show to challenge the network to fire him, says former HBO CEO Chris Albrecht. The heated moment came after the actor felt blindsided during an intervention meant to address his drug addiction.

“We carried out an intervention in my apartment in New York,” Albrecht recalls in the new Max documentary series Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos. “I wanted to get him to go to rehab. We had already had a lot of friction at that point, and the trick was that I invited Jimmy over so we could talk things through and sort of clear the air.”

Among those in attendance were Gandolfini's sisters and several of his colleagues, Albrecht said, so the star quickly got the picture. “He came in, saw everyone sitting there and thought, 'Oh, screw it.' And he walked out,” Albrecht said. “Everybody said, 'Jimmy, Jimmy!' And he turned to me and said, 'Fire me,' and walked out.”

Gandolfini ultimately stayed with the series until the end, starring in the mafia drama for six seasons from 1999 to 2007. Tony Soprano is still considered one of the most influential figures in television history, and Gandolfini's performance was highly praised by critics at the time, earning him three Emmy Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe.

Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio Dante in the hit HBO drama, noted that the intervention was not the only time Gandolfini had considered leaving the series.

“He probably left the show every other day. Maybe every day,” Van Zandt said in the documentary. “Every other day we would go to a bar and have the exact same conversation. We would get drunk and [he’d] say, 'I'm done. I can't, I'm not going back.' And I would say, 'Okay, there are a hundred people here depending on you.' And he says, 'Ah, yeah, yeah, okay.'”

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Van Zandt added that while Gandolfini usually went back to work the next day, he would also “disappear” for short periods of time when the pressure of leading the series became “too much” for him.

His wife Edie Falco said: “He put an incredible amount of effort into making the character believable, and if you're not really diligent, you can end up taking your work home with you. And as an actor, that's not always a good idea.”

The Sopranos Creator David Chase went so far as to compare Gandolfini to the character he so famously portrayed. “He was really a good guy and really complicated,” Chase said in Smart aleck. “You could say – and I'm not sure – that maybe there was more Tony there than he wanted to admit. That it was too easy for him.”

Gandolfini died of a heart attack on June 19, 2013, at the age of 51. Last year marked the tenth anniversary of his unexpected death, and several of his co-stars paid heartfelt tributes.

“I am forever grateful for the amount of work we did together, the time we spent with you, and for all the generosity and kindness,” wrote Michael Imperioli. “I miss you very much, as do so many others on this planet.”

Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos is available to stream on Max, as are all six seasons of The Sopranos.