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The acclaimed creator is set for a return to television. The iconic mob drama creator will write MKUltra, a mini-series centered around the Central Intelligence Agency's secret Cold War period mind control program for HBO.

Exploring the Series

This new venture, initially revealed by industry sources, will be David Chase's initial TV project since the era-defining HBO mob drama. This intense narrative, inspired by John Lisle's book Project Mind Control, focuses on Sidney Gottlieb, known as the "dark magician" who oversaw Project MKUltra, the agency's covert psychedelic program that tested hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was terminated in the early 1970s.

The Experiments

The scientist directed these tests in the name of national security, to combat the alleged danger of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the psychedelic movement, as he brought the substance to the agency in the 1950s, in an effort to investigate the possibilities of controlling human consciousness. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the agency, armed forces personnel and university attendees who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Additional subjects, on the other hand, were psychiatric inmates, prisoners, drug addicts, and prostitutes forced or deceived into drug dosages that in certain instances resulted in permanent damage.

Creator's Background

David Chase earned five Emmys for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey mafia family widely credited with ushering in the golden age of “prestige” television. After the series, starring the late James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on movie projects. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 movie Not Fade Away. He also co-wrote and produced "The Many Saints of Newark", a Sopranos prequel featuring Michael Gandolfini, that debuted in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to television comes after he declared the period of sophisticated TV dramas in some ways defined by his show to be a “blip” that is now over. In an interview with a major publication for the series' quarter-century milestone, the 78-year-old claimed that he had been instructed to "simplify" his scripts in meetings with studio heads and advised against making TV content that was too complex.

Chase attributed that perspective in partly to his encounter trying to make a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in federal protection. In multiple discussions with executives, he said, they were informed "the harsh reality" that it was not straightforward enough. "What audience is this targeting?" he remarked. "Presumably, the investors?"

“We seem to be confused and audiences can’t keep their minds on things, so we can’t make anything that makes too much sense, takes our attention and requires an audience to focus,” he continued. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."