Time to restock those frag grenades and fuel up the Warthog, the long-promised Halo TV series is finally a reality. Showtime has announced they’re bringing the popular Xbox shooter game franchise to their network as a scripted TV drama with Steven Spielberg on board as exec-producer. And shooting begins early next year so we won’t even have to wait long for it.
According to the network’s press statement, the series will have Kyle Killen (Awake) as a showrunner, Steven Spielberg exec-producing through Amblin Entertainment, and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) directing multiple episodes. There will be 10 hour-long episodes in the first season.
“Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded,” said David Nevins, President and CEO of Showtime. “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.”
For those who have never dropped into one of Halo‘s massive multiplayer battles, the series takes place in the 26th century as humanity faces an alien threat known as the Covenant. The lead character is known as Master Chief, an enhanced super-soldier who usually takes on the most dangerous missions. He has become one of the most iconic characters in video game history.
Halo has been adapted in numerous formats, short films, novels, comics. And it has nearly been adapted into a movie on a few occasions, as well, with Neill Blomkamp famously attached to one attempt before that fell through. As a TV series it has the potential to be bigger than Game of Thrones, and I can’t wait to see more of what Showtime has planned for it.
