'The Sopranos' creator David Chase returns to HBO with 'Project: MKUltra'

Los Angeles, Oct 23 (PTI) "The Sopranos" creator David Chase is returning to HBO with a limited series "Project: MKUltra", a story based on an infamous part of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) history.

Chase's first series after "Sopranos" will be based on the non-fiction book "Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra" by John Lisle.

Project MKUltra was an illegal human experiment which began in 1953 and was halted in 1973 and used covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (particularly LSD) among other chemicals on willing and unwilling participants, reported Deadline.

The series will focus on chemist Sidney Gottlieb who headed the CIA’s MKUltra Psychedelic program to test mind control during the Cold War. Gottlieb is also recognised as the unwitting godfather of the entire LSD counterculture (hippie movement).

"The Sopranos", starring late James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco and Michael Imperioli, ran from 1999 to 2007 and won Chase seven Emmys.

The critically-acclaimed series, considered a classic television crime drama, revolved around Gandolfini's Tony Soprano, a New Jersey Italian-American mafia head who seeks psychiatric help after suffering from panic attacks. After "The Sopranos" ended, Chase wrote-directed and produced the 2012 film "Not Fade Away" and more recently worked on the film "The Many Saints of Newark" in 2021. The new series marks his return to television. PTI SMR BK BK BK