‘The Sopranos’ creator David Chase returns to HBO with limited series ‘Project: MKUltra’

David Chase, the acclaimed creator of The Sopranos, is returning to HBO with Project: MKUltra, a new limited series exploring one of the most controversial covert operations in U.S. history. The project marks Chase’s first series since his iconic mob drama redefined television storytelling.

Based on John Lisle’s nonfiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra, the series will chronicle the real-life exploits of Sidney Gottlieb, the infamous CIA chemist known as “The Black Sorcerer.” Gottlieb led the MKUltra program during the height of the Cold War, overseeing a series of unethical mind-control experiments that included LSD testing, hypnosis, and psychological torture.

HBO describes the series as “a dramatic thriller centered on the infamous chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb… who conducted dangerous and deadly mind control experiments on willing and unwilling subjects during the height of the Cold War.”

Chase will write and executive produce the adaptation under his Riverain Pictures banner, alongside Nicole Lambert, the company’s head of production and development. The series falls under Chase’s ongoing first-look deal with HBO.

Project: MKUltra signals a thematic shift for Chase, whose previous work — including The Many Saints of Newark and Not Fade Away — has focused on family, morality, and the American dream. Here, he turns his attention to paranoia, power, and the moral cost of experimentation in a time of fear.

Widely considered one of television’s greatest auteurs, Chase has won seven Emmy Awards, five of them for The Sopranos. His return to HBO with Project: MKUltra marks one of the most anticipated creative reunions in recent memory.