There’s been a lot of big new surrounding 343 Industries’ Halo franchise lately. Not only did we get the E3 announcement of the next game in the series, Halo Infinite, we were also told that a Halo television series was coming too. Rumors of a Halo movie have been circulating for years but that never came to fruition, a television series will come in its stead which could be better for the series anyways.
10. The show is being developed through Showtime
The premium channel Showtime will be delivering the show. A 10-episode live-action season has been ordered by Showtime, produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television. It’s not yet known if Spielberg himself will be apart of the show but at one time he was interested in doing a Halo film so it likely that he’ll be an executive producer himself.
9. Showtime didn’t hire sci-fi writers for the show
Showtime’s CEO David Nevins said that showtime made “a conscious decision” to enlist for Halo writers “not known for sci-fi, not known for big-battle movies,” so as to “get under the armor of the Spartans”. Spartans, as fans of the franchise know, are the elite few chosen to undergo extreme operations to become the United Nations Space Command’s elite soldiers.
8. Kyle Killen will be the showrunner
Writer and showrunner will be Kyle Killen, with Rupert Wyatt sitting in the director’s chair. Killen was the writer and creator of the hit show Awake, Wyatt directed Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It’ll be interesting to see what these big names will bring to the Halo TV series. Game developer 343 Industries and Microsoft are supposed to have some involvement with the series too, hopefully to make sure the show feels authentically Halo.
7. Halo TV Series Release Date
Production on the Halo TV series isn’t set to start until early 2019. We could see something as early as late 2019 but a 2020 release date is most likely for the show. Kiki Wolfkill, 343 Industries’ head of transmedia had this to say, “As we think about what it means to bring videogame franchises to movie or TV - the biggest challenge can often be finding the right balance between moments fans have already experienced and moments that have yet to be experienced through a different medium, perspective, or creative lens. We are excited to navigate these creative waters to bring you something that is both respectful of what you already know and love, but also new and surprising and enthralling.” That’s fairly promising for fans who have put hours upon hours of gameplay, reading, or watching into the Halo universe already.
6. Halo TV Series Plot
Showtime is keeping plot points pretty hush hush at the moment, what has been confirmed is that the show will take place in the same setting and universe as the games. It will follow the 26th century epic war between the humans and the group of different aliens known as the Covenant.
5. The show’s setting
Showtime’s President of Programming, Gary Levine said that the show will be set in multiple locations on foreign planets. Much of the show will probably be filmed in studio lots rather than the production taking place in many different countries around the world such as a show like Game of Thrones does.
4. Which characters will be featured
While we don’t know for sure which characters will be in the show, it has been confirmed that Master Chief, our beloved John 117, will be a character in the show. Depending on what time frame the show goes with, we could see characters from the Fall of Reach, or some of Master Chief’s other close comrades from the novels. Fans are speculating whether or not Cortana or 343 Guilty Spark will make appearances as well.
3. Showtime claims this will be their biggest show to date
David Nevins had this to say, “Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded. In the history of television, there simply has never been enough great science fiction. Kyle Killen's scripts are thrilling, expansive and provocative; Rupert Wyatt is a wonderful, world-building director; and their vision of Halo will enthrall fans of the game while also drawing the uninitiated into a world of complex characters that populate this unique universe."
2. It won’t be Showtime’s “Game of Thrones”
Levine and Nevins made it clear that they weren’t trying to replicate the massive success of Game of Thrones but rather make this show entirely something unique. "It is a very different genre, it’s futuristic, space-based science-fiction, it’s not fantasy," said Nevins. "It took us a long time to get the script but we felt like we had something that was really interesting and felt like it belonged on Showtime in terms of its character depth, and it’s gonna be a big show." Fans should think along the lines of Star Trek for this show but with more action. Hopefully a lot more action.
1. Halo TV Series Preparation
So what can you do while you wait for the space epic to come out? There is a ton of source material (that we hope the show will stick to) that you can immerse yourself with in the meantime. Apart from the games themselves, there are novels, comic books, and two other mini-series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and Halo: Nightfall that are all canon to the Halo universe.
