In 2013, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One to the world. And in case you’ve forgotten, they also announced a live action Halo television series at the same time. The show was supposed to release in 2015 to coincide with Halo 5. Unfortunately, that plan got blasted by a plasma grenade when Microsoft closed its Entertainment Studios in 2014. Naturally, this left the fate of the live action series looking… not so great. But, as it turns out, it didn’t die after all – the one and only Steven Spielberg of Amblin Entertainment is directing the show with cooperation from Showtime, 343 Industries, and Microsoft themselves (of course).
“Progress on the Halo television series continues,” said a spokesperson for 343 Industries. “We want to ensure we’re doing this the right way together with a team of creative partners (Steven Spielberg and Showtime) that can help us build the best Halo series that fans expect and deserve. We have no further details to share at this time.”
The live action Halo series has surfaced and then gone dark multiple times, and no one needs to be reminded of the other projects Microsoft has pitched recently. But among all those closures, the Halo show has survived. And if it’s endured through this much, there should be no question it will eventually see the light of day.
There was also a live action movie in the works at some point, but that really did get scrapped alongside Entertainment Studios. And you can’t really blame them – live action movies based on games have a dim box office history.
Though they did release an animated film, Halo Legends, with its own series of shorts. That was an odd little duck. There probably won’t be an update on the live action Halo series for some time, but at least we know for sure it’s coming, and it doesn’t seem like anything’s going to stop it.