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David Chase is set for a comeback to television. The Sopranos visionary will write MKUltra, a mini-series focusing on the CIA's covert cold war-era mind control program for the premium network.

Exploring the Project

The project, first reported by industry sources, marks David Chase's initial TV project following the groundbreaking HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, inspired by the author's book "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who led the MKUltra initiative, the agency's clandestine psychedelic program that tested hallucinogenic drugs, hypnotic techniques, and physical coercion on willing and unwilling subjects from 1953 until it was terminated in the early 1970s.

Research Activities

Gottlieb oversaw such experiments in the interest of state safety, to counter the alleged danger of Soviet and Chinese mind control methods. He's also known as the inadvertent father of the LSD counterculture, as he introduced the drug to the agency in the mid-20th century, in an effort to explore the potential of controlling human consciousness. Certain participants were volunteers from the agency, military officers and university attendees who had knowledge of the purpose of the studies. Others, on the other hand, were psychiatric inmates, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and sex workers coerced or deceived into substance administration that in certain instances left long-term harm.

Creator's Background

Chase won multiple Emmy Awards for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based mafia family broadly acknowledged with starting the golden age of “prestige” television. After the series, featuring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, the creator has primarily concentrated on feature films. He wrote, directed and produced the 2012 film "Not Fade Away". Additionally, he collaborated on "The Many Saints of Newark", a prequel to The Sopranos starring Michael Gandolfini, that debuted in 2021.

Return to Television

His return to television follows he declared the period of ambitious TV dramas in part shaped by the Sopranos to be a “blip” that is now finished. In an interview with a leading newspaper for the series' quarter-century milestone, the septuagenarian asserted that he had been told to “dumb down” his scripts in meetings with executives and advised against making television that was overly intricate.

He linked that perspective in part to his encounter trying to make a show with the writer Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who finds herself in witness protection. In numerous meetings with producers, he noted, they were informed “the unfortunate truth” 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."