The Sopranos Creator David Chase to Write HBO Limited Series on CIA Drug Program

David Chase is making a comeback to television. The Sopranos creator is scripting Project MKUltra, a limited series centered around the Central Intelligence Agency's secret cold war-era mind control program for the premium network.

About the Series

This new venture, initially revealed by industry sources, marks David Chase's first series since the era-defining HBO crime series. This intense narrative, based on the author's non-fiction work "Project Mind Control", focuses on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who led Project MKUltra, the agency's covert psychedelic program that tested hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from 1953 until it was halted in the early 1970s.

The Experiments

The scientist directed these tests in the name of national security, to counter the alleged danger 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 CIA in the mid-20th century, in an effort to explore the possibilities of manipulating human consciousness. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the agency, military officers and college students who had knowledge of the nature of the experiments. Additional subjects, on the other hand, were psychiatric inmates, prisoners, substance abusers, and sex workers forced or misled into substance administration that in certain instances left long-term harm.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase earned five Emmys for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with ushering in the peak era of “prestige” television. After the series, featuring the deceased James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, the creator has mostly focused on feature films. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 film "Not Fade Away". Additionally, he collaborated on The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos starring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

TV Comeback

This comeback to television comes after he stated the era of sophisticated television series in part defined by the Sopranos to be a "temporary phase" that is now finished. Speaking to a major publication for the show’s 25th anniversary, the septuagenarian asserted that he had been instructed to "simplify" his scripts in discussions with studio heads and advised against making TV content that was overly intricate.

He attributed that perspective in partly to his encounter trying to make a show with the screenwriter 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 unfortunate truth” that it was too complex. “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."