The Sopranos Creator Officially Sets HBO Thriller Replacement Show After 18 Years

The Sopranos creator David Chase is reuniting with HBO for a new series. The mafia drama, which starred James Gandolfini and ran for six seasons from 1999 through 2007, won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and is widely regarded as one of the best series of all time.

Chase has not created any series that have come to the air since 2007although he has produced and written multiple features in the meantime, including the 2012 James Gandolfini drama Not Fade Away (which he also directed) and the soprano prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark.

for Deadline, The Sopranos creator David Chase is in development on a new HBO thriller series titled Project: MKUltrawhich he will write, adapting John Lisle’s 2025 nonfiction book Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKUltra.

HBO’s synopsis reveals that the limited series biographical drama will follow real-life chemist Sidney Gottliebwho “headed the CIA’s MKUltra Psychedelic program, which conducted dangerous and deadly mind-control experiments on willing and unwilling subjects during the height of the Cold War.“

Via Riverain Pictures, Chase is also executive producing the series alongside Nicole Lambert (who produced The Many Saints of Newark and executive produced the docuseries Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos).

The story of the MKUltra program has been adapted to the screen multiple times since it ended in 1973. These projects include Netflix’s 2017 docudrama Wormwoodthe 2009 Clea Duvall thriller The Killing Roomand the 2022 feature MK Ultrawhich featured Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount as the fictional Dr. Ford Strauss.

Episodes of Bones, The Rookieand Fringe have also been inspired by the programnor has the hit Netflix supernatural drama Stranger Thingswhich features key character Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) escaping from a similar experiment.

It remains to be seen if anything else soprano creatives will board the projecteither in front of or behind the camera. However, Chase has made a habit of working with veterans of the hit show in the projects that he has helmed since it went off the air.

In addition to the late James Gandolfini starring in Not Fade AwayChase reunited with dozens of members of the soprano cast and crew for The Many Saints of Newarkincluding star Michael Imperioli (who narrated the movie as his character Christopher Moltisanti), director Alan Taylor, and co-writer Lawrence Konner.

While the fact that Project: MKUltra is David Chase’s first television series since The Sopranos means that the new show has big shoes to fill, his return to HBO could earn the project a great deal of goodwill thanks to its long-lasting legacy.

Release Date

1999 – 2007

NETWORKS

HBO

Showrunner

David Chase

Directors

Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo Garcia

Writers

Michael Imperioli, Jason Cahill, Lawrence Konner, David Flebotte, James Manos, Jr., Salvatore Stabile, Toni Kalem, Mark Saraceni, Nick Santora

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  James Gandolfini

  Tony Soprano

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