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The acclaimed creator is making a return to television. The iconic mob drama creator is scripting Project MKUltra, a mini-series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's secret cold war-era mind control program for HBO.

Exploring the Series

The project, first reported by entertainment insiders, will be David Chase's first series since the groundbreaking HBO mob drama. This intense narrative, based on the author's book "Project Mind Control", focuses on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who oversaw the MKUltra initiative, the CIA's covert psychedelic program that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was halted in 1973.

The Experiments

Gottlieb directed such experiments in the name of national security, to counter the alleged danger of Russian and Chinese mind control methods. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the psychedelic movement, as he introduced the drug to the agency in the 1950s, in an effort to explore the potential of manipulating the human mind. Certain participants were willing individuals from the CIA, armed forces personnel and university attendees who had awareness of the purpose of the studies. Others, however, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes forced or misled into drug dosages that in certain instances left long-term harm.

Creator's Background

David Chase earned multiple Emmy Awards for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based mafia family widely credited with ushering in the golden age of “prestige” television. After the series, featuring the deceased James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has mostly focused on feature films. He wrote, directed and produced the 2012 movie 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 era of sophisticated television series in some ways shaped by his show to be a “blip” that is now finished. In an interview with a leading newspaper for the series' quarter-century milestone, the 78-year-old claimed that he had been told to "simplify" his scripts in meetings with executives and warned against producing television that was too complex.

He linked that perspective in part to his experience attempting to develop a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in federal protection. In multiple discussions with producers, he noted, they were informed “the unfortunate truth” that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” he remarked. “I guess the stockholders?”

"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."