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

About the Project

This new venture, first reported by entertainment insiders, marks David Chase's first series since the groundbreaking HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, inspired by John Lisle's non-fiction work Project Mind Control, focuses on the notorious scientist, referred to as the “black sorcerer” who oversaw Project MKUltra, the CIA's clandestine psychedelic program that tested psychedelic substances, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was halted in the early 1970s.

Research Activities

The scientist directed such experiments in the interest of national security, to counter the alleged danger of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the LSD counterculture, as he introduced the substance to the agency in the 1950s, in an attempt to investigate the possibilities of manipulating human consciousness. Certain participants were volunteers from the CIA, military officers and university attendees who had knowledge of the purpose of the studies. Others, however, were psychiatric inmates, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes coerced or misled into drug dosages that in some cases resulted in permanent damage.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase won five Emmys for his hit series, a complex drama about a New Jersey mafia family widely credited with ushering in the peak era of high-quality TV. After the series, featuring the deceased James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on movie projects. He wrote, directed and produced the 2012 movie Not Fade Away. Additionally, he collaborated on The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel featuring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

Return to Television

His return to TV comes after he stated the era of sophisticated television series in part defined by the Sopranos 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 instructed to “dumb down” his scripts in discussions with studio heads and advised against making television that was overly intricate.

Chase linked that view in part to his encounter attempting to develop a series with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a luxury escort who ends up in witness protection. In numerous meetings with producers, he said, they were informed “the unfortunate truth” that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” he said. "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 added. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."