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The acclaimed creator is set for a comeback to the small screen. The iconic mob drama visionary will write Project MKUltra, a mini-series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's secret cold war-era mind control program for the premium network.

Exploring the Series

This new venture, first reported by industry sources, will be David Chase's first series since the groundbreaking HBO crime series. The dramatic thriller, inspired by John Lisle's book "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on the notorious scientist, referred to as the "dark magician" who oversaw the MKUltra initiative, the agency's covert hallucinogen experiments that tested psychedelic substances, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from the early 1950s until it was halted in 1973.

The Experiments

The scientist directed these tests in the name of national security, to combat the perceived threat of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He's also known as the accidental pioneer of the LSD counterculture, 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, armed forces personnel and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Additional subjects, however, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes forced or deceived into drug dosages that in some cases left long-term harm.

Creator's Background

Chase won five Emmys for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with starting the peak era of “prestige” television. After the series, featuring the late James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, the creator has primarily concentrated on movie projects. 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 debuted in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to TV follows he stated the era of ambitious television series in some ways defined 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 claimed that he had been instructed to "simplify" his scripts in discussions with studio heads and warned against producing television that was overly intricate.

He attributed that perspective in part to his encounter attempting to develop a series with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in federal protection. In multiple discussions 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?"

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