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The acclaimed creator is set for a comeback to television. The iconic mob drama creator will write Project MKUltra, a limited series focusing on the CIA's secret Cold War period mind control program for the premium network.

About the Project

The project, first reported by entertainment insiders, will be Chase's initial TV project following the era-defining HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, based on John Lisle's book "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on Sidney Gottlieb, referred to as the “black sorcerer” who led the MKUltra initiative, the CIA's covert hallucinogen experiments that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, and torture on willing and unwilling subjects from the early 1950s until it was terminated in 1973.

The Experiments

The scientist oversaw such experiments in the name of state safety, to counter the alleged danger of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the inadvertent father of the psychedelic movement, as he introduced the substance to the CIA in the mid-20th century, in an attempt to explore the potential of controlling human consciousness. Certain participants were willing individuals from the CIA, armed forces personnel and college students who had knowledge of the purpose of the studies. Additional subjects, on the other hand, were psychiatric inmates, prisoners, substance abusers, and sex workers coerced or misled into drug dosages that in some cases left long-term harm.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase won multiple Emmy Awards for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate widely credited with ushering in the peak era of “prestige” television. Since the show, featuring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, the creator has primarily concentrated on feature films. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 film Not Fade Away. Additionally, he collaborated on The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel starring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to TV follows he declared the era of ambitious television series in part shaped by the Sopranos to be a "temporary phase" that is now finished. Speaking to a major publication for the series' quarter-century milestone, the 78-year-old asserted that he had been told to “dumb down” his screenplays in discussions with studio heads and warned against producing television that was overly intricate.

He linked that perspective in part to his encounter attempting to develop a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in witness protection. In multiple discussions with producers, he said, they were informed "the harsh reality" that it was too complex. "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 added. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."