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The acclaimed creator is making a return to the small screen. The iconic mob drama visionary will write MKUltra, a mini-series centered around the Central Intelligence Agency's secret cold war-era psychological manipulation project for HBO.

Exploring the Project

This new venture, initially revealed by industry sources, marks Chase's initial TV project since the era-defining HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, based on John Lisle's book Project Mind Control, zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who led Project MKUltra, the CIA's covert hallucinogen experiments that administered psychedelic substances, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was halted in 1973.

The Experiments

The scientist directed these tests in the interest of national security, to counter the perceived threat of Russian and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He's also known as the inadvertent father of the LSD counterculture, as he brought the drug to the agency in the mid-20th century, in an attempt to explore the possibilities of manipulating human consciousness. Certain participants were willing individuals from the agency, military officers and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the studies. Additional subjects, however, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, substance abusers, and prostitutes forced or deceived into drug dosages that in some cases resulted in long-term harm.

Creator's Background

David Chase won multiple Emmy Awards for his hit series, a intricate narrative about a New Jersey crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with ushering in the golden age of high-quality TV. Since the show, starring the deceased James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on feature films. 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 starring Michael Gandolfini, that premiered in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to television comes after he stated the era of ambitious television series in part shaped by his show to be a “blip” that is now over. Speaking to a leading newspaper for the series' quarter-century milestone, the septuagenarian claimed that he had been told to “dumb down” his screenplays in discussions with executives and advised against producing TV content that was overly intricate.

Chase linked that perspective in partly to his experience attempting to develop a series with the screenwriter 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. “I guess the stockholders?”

“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. “And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”