David Chase to Develop HBO Limited Series on CIA’s MKUltra, Covert Experiments In Mind Control and Manipulation

NEW YORK, NY – Veteran television creator David Chase is returning to the small screen with a new limited series at HBO that delves into one of the most controversial programs in U.S. intelligence history, according to multiple news outlets.

The project, titled Project: MKUltra, is based on the real-world Central Intelligence Agency effort of the same name, which operated covertly during the Cold War. The series will be Chase’s first television work since the acclaimed crime drama The Sopranos concluded in 2007.

According to reporting by Deadline, Project: MKUltra will dramatize the notorious CIA program that began in the 1950s and continued into the early 1970s. The original MKUltra initiative involved experiments with psychedelic drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and other techniques aimed at uncovering methods of mind control and interrogation. Many of these tests were conducted without the informed consent of participants, sparking enduring ethical and legal debates.

The series is said to center on Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA chemist and intelligence officer who led the program. Classified documents released decades after the project’s termination revealed that MKUltra experiments included administering LSD and other drugs to unwitting subjects, with some procedures leaving lasting harm.

Chase’s adaptation reportedly draws on Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra, a non-fiction book by historian John Lisle. HBO and Chase’s production company, Riverain Pictures, optioned the material as the narrative foundation for the limited series.

While Project: MKUltra remains in the early stages of development, reporting indicates that Chase will write and executive produce the series. Nicole Lambert, head of production and development at Riverain Pictures, is also attached as an executive producer. A premiere date has not yet been announced, and casting news remains forthcoming.

Chase, now in his eighties, has previously focused on films and occasional one-off projects since The Sopranos ended, including directing Not Fade Away (2012) and executive producing the franchise’s prequel film The Many Saints of Newark (2021). Project: MKUltra represents his first serialized television return in nearly two decades.

The CIA’s MKUltra program has periodically surfaced in public consciousness, partly because of its ethically troubling methods and partly due to its loose influence on fictional portrayals of mind control in film and television. Elements of the program have even appeared in series like Stranger Things, which referenced drug experiments and psychological manipulation in its storylines.

As the limited series develops, HBO subscribers and television audiences alike will be watching to see how Chase interprets this chapter of American intelligence history and how he balances historical context with dramatic storytelling.

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