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

Exploring the Project

The project, first reported by entertainment insiders, will be Chase's initial TV project since the era-defining HBO mob drama. This intense narrative, inspired by John Lisle's book Project Mind Control, zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the “black sorcerer” who oversaw Project MKUltra, the agency's covert hallucinogen experiments that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnotic techniques, and physical coercion on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was halted in the early 1970s.

The Experiments

The scientist oversaw such experiments in the name of national security, to combat the perceived threat of Soviet and Chinese mind control methods. He's also known as the inadvertent father of the psychedelic movement, as he brought the substance to the agency in the mid-20th century, in an attempt to investigate the possibilities of controlling human consciousness. Some test subjects were volunteers from the CIA, military officers and college students who had awareness of the nature of the experiments. Additional subjects, however, were mental patients, prisoners, substance abusers, and prostitutes coerced or misled into substance administration that in some cases resulted in long-term harm.

Creator's Background

David Chase won five Emmys for his hit series, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with ushering in the golden age of “prestige” television. After the series, starring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has mostly focused on feature films. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 film Not Fade Away. He also co-wrote and produced "The Many Saints of Newark", a Sopranos prequel starring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

Return to Television

This comeback to television comes after he declared the period of sophisticated television series in some ways shaped by the Sopranos to be a “blip” that is now over. Speaking to a leading newspaper for the show’s 25th anniversary, the 78-year-old asserted that he had been told to "simplify" his screenplays in discussions with studio heads and advised against producing television that was overly intricate.

He attributed that perspective in part to his encounter trying to make a series with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a luxury escort who finds herself in federal protection. In numerous meetings with executives, he noted, they were told “the unfortunate truth” that it was too complex. "What audience is this targeting?" he said. "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 continued. “And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”