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David Chase is set for a return to the small screen. The Sopranos visionary will write MKUltra, a limited series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's secret Cold War period psychological manipulation project for the premium network.

Exploring the Series

This new venture, first reported by industry sources, will be David Chase's first series following the era-defining HBO mob drama. This intense narrative, based on the author's non-fiction work Project Mind Control, zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who led the MKUltra initiative, the CIA's covert hallucinogen experiments 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

The scientist oversaw these tests in the interest of national security, to counter 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 explore the potential of controlling the human mind. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the agency, armed forces personnel and university attendees who had awareness of the purpose of the studies. Others, however, were psychiatric inmates, prisoners, drug addicts, and prostitutes coerced or misled into substance administration that in certain instances resulted in long-term harm.

Chase's Legacy

David Chase won five Emmys for his hit series, a complex drama about a New Jersey crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with starting the golden age of high-quality TV. After the series, featuring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has mostly focused on movie projects. 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 Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.

Return to Television

This comeback to television comes after he declared the era of sophisticated TV dramas in part shaped by his show to be a "temporary phase" 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 discussions with executives and warned against producing television that was too complex.

Chase linked that perspective in part to his encounter trying to make a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a luxury escort who ends up in witness protection. In multiple discussions with producers, he said, they were told “the unfortunate truth” that it was too complex. “Who is this all really for?” 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. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."