David Chase Develops HBO Limited Series on MKUltra

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, is developing a limited series at HBO titled Project MKUltra, an adaptation of John Lisle's nonfiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra. The project is in development at the premium network, with Chase set to write the adaptation and serve as an executive producer through his Riverain Pictures banner alongside Nicole Lambert, the companys head of production and development.

The series is described as a dramatic thriller centered on Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA chemist and spymaster who led the agency's MKUltra psychedelic program during the Cold War. The MKUltra program, operated by the CIA in the 1950s and 1960s, sought to research and develop methods of mind control in response to perceived advances by Soviet and Chinese programs. Its methods reportedly included administration of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, experiments in hypnosis and sensory deprivation, and interrogation techniques that in some cases were carried out without participants' knowledge or consent. Gottlieb is also commonly associated with the early spread of LSD within and beyond intelligence circles.