Halo flies to new galaxy

CASTING notices obtained and detailed by The Hollywood Reporter for a Halo TV series based on the sci-fi video game franchise indicate the show will revolve around central character Master Chief ( below), military training programme head Catherine Halsey, and what appears to be a new character named Jenny.

Master Chief, also known by his callsign John-117, is an elite supersoldier who serves as a faceless avatar for players as they try to save the galaxy.

He has been near-omnipresent throughout the Halo franchise, driving each core entry to the franchise, from 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved to 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians, and is expected to lead an undated upcoming entry called Halo Infinite.

The video game franchise traditionally shows Master Chief with an armoured helmet on, or with his face not revealed. Halo 4 came closest to a reveal by showing his eyes during a c los ing cutscene.

Whether that will continue into the Showtime series is not yet known.

Steve Downes voices Master Chief in the games, while Daniel Cudmore portrayed him in Forward Until Dawn, where he was voiced by Alex Puccinelli, a background voice actor on Finding Dory.

THR also confirms that Dr Halsey, the scientist behind the military training programme that produced John-117 and the rest of his cohort, will appear.

She was voiced by Jen Taylor in the Halo games; Taylor also voices the associated character of Cortana who appears as a sentient AI in the Halo games, and has since become the voice of Microsoft’s platform-wide AI assistant named for the character.

Showtime has also listed a brief character description for someone called Jenny, a name not previously central to the Halo franchise, implying that a significant new character may have been created for the show. It is looking for an Asian woman for the part. – AFP

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