Sopranos Creator David Chase Developing HBO Limited Series on CIA Drug Program
The acclaimed creator is making a return to the small screen. The Sopranos visionary is scripting Project MKUltra, a limited series focusing on the Central Intelligence Agency's covert Cold War period psychological manipulation project for HBO.
Exploring the Series
This new venture, initially revealed by entertainment insiders, marks Chase's initial TV project following the groundbreaking HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, inspired by John Lisle's book Project Mind Control, zeroes in on Sidney Gottlieb, known as the "dark magician" who oversaw Project MKUltra, the CIA's clandestine psychedelic program that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnotic techniques, and torture on volunteers and non-consenting individuals from the early 1950s until it was terminated in 1973.
The Experiments
The scientist directed these tests in the interest of state safety, to counter the perceived threat of Russian and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the LSD counterculture, as he introduced the substance to the CIA in the 1950s, in an attempt to explore the potential of manipulating human consciousness. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the CIA, military officers and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the studies. Additional subjects, on the other hand, were mental patients, prisoners, substance abusers, and prostitutes coerced or deceived into drug dosages that in some cases left permanent damage.
Chase's Legacy
Chase won five Emmys for the Sopranos, a complex drama about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate broadly acknowledged with starting the peak era of “prestige” television. Since the show, starring the deceased James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, the creator has mostly focused on movie projects. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 movie Not Fade Away. He also co-wrote and produced The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel featuring Gandolfini’s son, that premiered in 2021.
Return to Television
His return to TV comes after he stated the era of sophisticated TV dramas in some ways defined by the Sopranos to be a "temporary phase" that is now finished. Speaking to a leading newspaper for the series' quarter-century milestone, the septuagenarian asserted that he had been told to "simplify" his scripts in meetings with studio heads and warned against making TV content that was too complex.
Chase attributed that view 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 federal protection. In numerous meetings 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 added. “And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”