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David Chase is set for a comeback to television. The iconic mob drama creator will write Project MKUltra, a limited series centered around the CIA's covert cold war-era mind control program for HBO.

Exploring the Project

This new venture, first reported by entertainment insiders, marks Chase's first series following the groundbreaking HBO crime series. The dramatic thriller, inspired by John Lisle's book "Project Mind Control", focuses on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who led the MKUltra initiative, the agency's covert psychedelic program that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, and physical coercion on willing and unwilling subjects from 1953 until it was halted in the early 1970s.

Research Activities

Gottlieb oversaw these tests in the name of national security, to combat the perceived threat of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded 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 potential 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. Others, on the other hand, were psychiatric inmates, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes forced or deceived into substance administration that in certain instances left permanent damage.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase won five Emmys for his hit series, a intricate narrative about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with ushering in the golden age of “prestige” television. Since the show, starring the deceased James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, the creator 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 prequel to The Sopranos featuring Michael Gandolfini, that premiered in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to television follows he stated the period of ambitious TV dramas in part shaped by his show to be a “blip” that is now over. Speaking to a major publication for the series' quarter-century milestone, the 78-year-old asserted that he had been instructed to "simplify" his scripts in meetings with executives and warned against producing television that was overly intricate.

Chase 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 multiple discussions with producers, he said, they were informed "the harsh reality" that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” 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. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."