The new Halo TV series is heading to Viacom CBS’s rebranded streaming platform, Paramount Plus, Deadline reported. Worked on by Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Television since June 2018, this yet-unnamed Halo TV series adaptation reportedly casts:
- Pablo Schreiber (Den of Thieves) as Master Chief.
- Natascha McElhone (Californication) as Dr. Halsey.
- Jen Taylor reprising her role as the ever-sassy AI Cortana.
- Additional stars include Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Danny Sapani, and Bokeem Woodbine.
No thanks to the pandemic, the show’s filming was delayed and is currently still shooting in Budapest. It’s scheduled to be released on Paramount Plus in 2022. Other than that, there are no more details about this Halo TV series. Even the project summary is pretty barebones, which you can read below.
Halo – based on the iconic Xbox franchise, Halo’s epic universe and cast of characters come to life in this new original drama series. In the new television adaptation, Halo will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
During the next two years, Paramount Plus will also release more than 50 new series and films. From a Frasier sequel, the new Avatar project, Kamp Koral SpongeBob spinoff, (another) live-action Fairly Oddparents, to two Star Trek titles, Strange New Worlds and Prodigy.
Halo live-action project first started back in 2005. 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios were going to produce the film with Alex Garland (28 Days Later) as the scriptwriter, Peter Jackson as the executive producer, and Neill Blomkamp as director. In 2006 D. B. Weiss (Game of Thrones) and Josh Olson (A History of Violence) rewrote Garland’s script, and preproduction of the film halted several times. Later that year, Fox and Universal butted head with Jackson, ending with the project getting stalled. Although it went into limbo for quite some time, after Jackson and Blomkamp collaborated for District 9 however, they decided not to pursue working on the film anymore.
In October 2012, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn debuted as a five episodes 15-minute web series. Two years later, Ridley Scott announced that he would be an executive producer for a new Halo live-action series, Halo: Nightfall. With David W. Zucker (The Andromeda Strain) and Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Prison Break) as the directors. On March 16, 2015, the series became available on digital and physical platforms. What do you hope to see in Paramount Plus’ Halo TV series? Please share your ideas and let me know in the comments below.