‘Halo’ TV series to begin filming in 2019
FIVE years on from its 2013 announcement, the “Halo” TV series is to take a crucial next step with US network Showtime as its broadcast partner.
Ten episodes of a series based on blockbuster action game franchise “Halo” have been ordered by Showtime.
Rupert Wyatt (director, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), Kyle Killen (writer, producer, “Mind Games,” “Awake” series), and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television are working on the production side.
Production is to begin in early 2019, according to Showtime, an adjustment from the previous Autumn 2018 window suggested by a March 2018 issue of trade magazine Production Weekly.
“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,” said network president and CEO David Nevins.
Microsoft Studios, whose parent owns gaming brand Xbox, and Microsoft’s internal studio and “Halo” custodian 343 Industries had previously overseen the development and release of three live-action promotional shorts in the “Halo 3: Landfall” trilogy (2007, directed by Neill Blomkamp), 1m30s short “Halo: The Life” (2009, directed by Rupert Sanders), and four-part webseries “Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn” (2012, helmed by “H+” director Stewart Hendler).
The “Halo” TV series was originally intended to accompany the 2015 release of “Halo 5: Guardians” but is now more likely to synchronize with publicity efforts for “Halo Infinite.”