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David Chase is making a comeback to the small screen. The Sopranos visionary will write MKUltra, a limited series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's covert Cold War period psychological manipulation project for HBO.

About the Series

This new venture, initially revealed by industry sources, will be Chase's first series since the era-defining HBO crime series. The dramatic thriller, based on John Lisle's book "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on Sidney Gottlieb, referred to as the "dark magician" who oversaw the MKUltra initiative, the CIA's covert psychedelic program that tested psychedelic substances, hypnosis, and physical coercion on willing and unwilling subjects from the early 1950s until it was terminated in the early 1970s.

Research Activities

The scientist directed these tests in the name of state safety, to combat the alleged danger of Russian and Chinese mind control methods. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the LSD counterculture, as he brought the substance to the CIA in the mid-20th century, in an effort to investigate the possibilities of controlling human consciousness. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the CIA, military officers and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Additional subjects, on the other hand, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes forced or misled into drug dosages that in certain instances left long-term harm.

Creator's Background

Chase earned multiple Emmy Awards for his hit series, a complex drama about a New Jersey mafia family widely credited with starting the peak era of “prestige” television. After the series, featuring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on feature films. He wrote, directed and produced the 2012 film "Not Fade Away". He also co-wrote and produced "The Many Saints of Newark", a Sopranos prequel featuring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to TV follows he declared the period of ambitious television series in part defined by his show to be a “blip” that is now over. Speaking to a major publication for the show’s 25th anniversary, the septuagenarian claimed that he had been told to "simplify" his screenplays in meetings with executives and warned against producing TV content that was too complex.

Chase linked that view in part to his encounter attempting to develop a show with the writer Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who finds herself in witness protection. In multiple discussions with executives, he said, they were told "the harsh reality" that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” 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 added. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."