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David Chase is set for a return to the small screen. The Sopranos visionary is scripting Project MKUltra, a mini-series centered around the CIA's covert cold war-era mind control program for HBO.

About the Series

This new venture, first reported by industry sources, marks David Chase's initial TV project since the era-defining HBO crime series. The dramatic thriller, inspired by John Lisle's non-fiction work Project Mind Control, zeroes in on Sidney Gottlieb, referred to as the "dark magician" who led Project MKUltra, the CIA's clandestine hallucinogen experiments that administered psychedelic substances, hypnosis, and torture on willing and unwilling subjects from 1953 until it was halted in 1973.

Research Activities

The scientist directed these tests in the name of national security, to combat the perceived threat of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the inadvertent father of the LSD counterculture, as he brought the drug to the CIA in the mid-20th century, in an attempt to investigate the possibilities of manipulating the human mind. Certain participants were volunteers from the agency, armed forces personnel and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Others, however, were psychiatric inmates, incarcerated persons, substance abusers, and prostitutes forced or misled into drug dosages that in some cases left long-term harm.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase earned five Emmys for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey mafia family widely credited with starting the golden age of high-quality TV. Since the show, starring the deceased James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, the creator has mostly focused on movie projects. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 film Not Fade Away. Additionally, he collaborated on The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos starring Michael Gandolfini, that debuted in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to TV follows he declared the era of sophisticated television series in some ways defined by his show to be a "temporary phase" that is now finished. Speaking to a leading newspaper for the show’s 25th anniversary, the septuagenarian asserted that he had been told to "simplify" his screenplays in meetings with studio heads and advised against producing TV content that was overly intricate.

He attributed that perspective in part to his encounter attempting to develop a show with the writer Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in witness protection. In multiple discussions with executives, he noted, they were told “the unfortunate truth” that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” he remarked. "Presumably, the investors?"

"It appears we are disoriented, and viewers struggle to concentrate, hence we cannot create content that is overly logical, engaging, and demands focus from the audience," he continued. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."