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David Chase is set for a comeback to television. The Sopranos visionary is scripting MKUltra, a mini-series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's secret Cold War period mind control program for the premium network.

About the Project

This new venture, first reported by entertainment insiders, marks Chase's initial TV project since the groundbreaking HBO crime series. The dramatic thriller, inspired by the author's non-fiction work "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the “black sorcerer” who led Project MKUltra, the CIA's clandestine psychedelic program that tested psychedelic substances, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from the early 1950s until it was terminated in 1973.

Research Activities

The scientist oversaw such experiments in the name of state safety, to combat the alleged danger of Russian and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the inadvertent father of the psychedelic movement, as he brought the drug to the CIA in the 1950s, in an effort to explore the potential of controlling human consciousness. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the CIA, armed forces personnel and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Others, however, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, drug addicts, and prostitutes coerced or misled into substance administration that in certain instances resulted in long-term harm.

Creator's Background

Chase won multiple Emmy Awards for his hit series, a intricate narrative about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with ushering in the golden age of high-quality TV. After the series, starring the late James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on movie projects. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 movie Not Fade Away. Additionally, he collaborated on The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel featuring Michael Gandolfini, that premiered in 2021.

Return to Television

This comeback to television follows he declared the era of sophisticated TV dramas in some ways shaped by his show to be a “blip” that is now over. In an interview with a leading newspaper for the show’s 25th anniversary, the septuagenarian claimed that he had been told to "simplify" his scripts in meetings with studio heads and advised against making TV content that was overly intricate.

Chase linked that perspective in part to his encounter trying to make a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in witness protection. In numerous meetings with executives, he said, they were told “the unfortunate truth” that it was too complex. "What audience is this targeting?" he remarked. “I guess the stockholders?”

“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."