A Disturbing Thriller For The 2020s

HBO has a new series on the way from the creator of The Sopranos, and it has the potential to be the most disturbing series of this decade. The Sopranos, which premiered in 1999 and ran for six seasons, is known as one of the best TV shows in history. Additionally, this series plays a significant role in HBO’s reputation for unabashed brutality.

The crime and gangster genres were established long before 1999, but The Sopranos was something of a revolution. The protagonist, Tony Soprano, was profoundly complex—both likable and entirely despicable, all at once. This allowed The Sopranos to center on the most disturbing, cut-throat aspects of the crime world. However, it balanced this out with a unique sort of poetry.

The Sopranos was created by David Chase, who hasn’t served as a showrunner for a series since his show wrapped up in 2007. That’s about to change, however, since Chase has reunited with HBO to put out a new, even more unsettling thriller.

The Sopranos Creator David Chase Has A Disturbing New Thriller TV Show In The Works

Chase and HBO are in the early stages of development on a series titled MKUltra. This will be an adaptation of the 2025 nonfiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra by John Lisle. This piece of work details the horrific experiments of the CIA’s MKUltra Psychedelic program during the Cold War.

The MKUlta experiments are a truly dark time in American history. The illegal program aimed to discover drugs that would be effective in brainwashing and torture, ensuring more effective interrogations. MKUltra was established in 1953 and wasn’t halted until 1973. During that time, thousands of victims are believed to have been subjected to electroshock, isolation, verbal, and sexual abuse.

Naturally, any TV thriller revolving around the MKUltra experiments is sure to be chilling. The fact that it would be based on a true story will make the series that much more disturbing. Add in the fact that The Sopranos‘ creator is sitting behind the wheel, and we can undoubtedly expect MKUltra to be the most unsettling thing to grace our screens in the 2020s.

MKUltra Will Feature An Anti-Hero Even Worse Than Tony Soprano

Tony smoking a cigar in the pool in The Sopranos

As previously mentioned, a significant factor in The Sopranos‘ unsettling nature was the anti-hero Tony Soprano. Having a protagonist capable of such terrible things allowed this classic TV show to subvert expectations at every turn. Still, it was at least possible to empathize with Tony and his values. This might be a little hard to achieve in MKUltra.

Chase’s new HBO thriller will revolve around Sidney Gottlieb, the real-life chemist who headed MKUltra. Gottlieb aimed to continue the Nazi’s efforts to create a “truth serum,” and he used similar methods of drugging and torturing unwilling, captive subjects. It’s hard to imagine such a figure having many redeemable qualities—a sure sign that the on-screen Gottlieb will be even more unpredictable than any Soprano.