New Netflix Series 'Wormwood' Explores Dangerous CIA Conspiracy Theory
Did the US government conduct illegal mind control experiments?
Documentarian Errol Morris’ forthcoming Netflix-produced series, Wormwood, takes a close look at the CIA’s shadowy MK Ultra program. Instead of presenting a straightforward investigation, the series looks to blend together documentary-style interviews and dramatic fiction.
From the 1950s until the early ’70s, the CIA began a series of occasionally illegal mind control experiments conducted on human subjects under the banner of Project MK Ultra. Long since discussed by conspiracy theorists, the program has been the subject of countless documentaries and books. Wormwood differs by meshing interviews with first and secondhand witnesses with dramatic reenactments, adding some artistic license to the proceedings. The shadowy death of scientist Frank Olson is the series’ main focus, who received a dose of LCD during one of the trials and was later asked to quit the program before his apparent suicide days later. Olson’s son, interviewed in Wormwood, asserts that the circumstances surrounding his father’s death are much less clear.
Wormwood premieres December 15. In other Netflix news, the company has confirmed that House of Cards will receive a 6th season.
