The Sopranos creator David Chase is returning to television for the first time in 18 years to develop a new series for HBO. It’s unsurprising that Chase is returning to the network that helped him to transform the television landscape 26 years earlier, as The Sopranos paved the way for prestige television and more boundary breaking stories in the medium. As MovieWeb confirmed, this time around, it seems that Chase will be re-telling the dark history of the CIA with the project, tentatively titled Project: MKUltra.
The official logline of the show reads, “A dramatic thriller centered on the infamous chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb, often known as The Black Sorcerer, who headed the CIA’s MKUltra Psychedelic program which conducted dangerous and deadly mind control experiments on willing–and unwilling–subjects during the height of the Cold War. Gottlieb is also known as the unwitting godfather of the entire LSD counterculture.”
The series takes inspiration from and loosely adapts the non-fiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra, written by author John Lisle. Chase optioned the book and plans to write the adaptation. Given that Chase has a first-look deal with HBO, the network will be the one that will oversee the development of the series and its production. Lisle’s novel focuses on Sidney Gottlieb, a spymaster and chemist who was in charge of Project MKUltra, which has now become infamous for the unethical and deadly practices that fueled its advancements.
Chase has been incredibly selective in the projects that he has worked on since The Sopranos concluded in 2007, only directing the 2012 drama film Not Fade Away, and writing The Sopranos’ prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. Despite being a series about mobsters, Chase used the James Gandolfini-led series to delve deep into the psychological workings of a criminal, so furthering his fascination with the psyche and mindset of individuals with Project: MKUltra makes thematic sense. Moreover, given that The Sopranos is often considered one of the greatest television series of all time (winning 21 Primetime Emmy Awards out of 111 nominations), it’s hard not to be excited about the potential for a new HBO series written and created by Chase.
‘Project: MKUltra’ Marks David Chase’s Return to Television After 18 Years
Project: MKUltra is the perfect opportunity for Chase to continue with the psychedelic and high-concept storytelling that the writer and director first mastered with The Sopranos, though there is no confirmation that the series is officially moving forward at HBO. While Chase has optioned the novel it will be based on, Deadline‘s report makes no mention of a script or who else will be involved with the production, other than that Nicole Lambert will executive produce Project: MKUltra for Chase’s production company, Riverain Pictures. Other than a currently untitled horror movie that is being worked on, Chase doesn’t have much else on his docket, which could mean that Project: MKUltra gets fast-tracked into pre-production given the hype around the creative team behind the series.
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