Halo: The Television Series
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Halo: The Television Series is a live-action television series produced by Showtime and premiered on Paramount Plus.[1] originally set to air in 2015,[2] then 2020,[3] and premiered on March 24, 2022. It was cancelled by Paramount Plus on July 18, 2024.[4]
Plot
The series was originally set to air 10 episodes,[5] but this was later reduced to 9,[6] and is set during the Human-Covenant War. John-117 was one of the lead characters of the series.[7]
Seasons
| Season | Episodes | First airdate | Last airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
May 19, 2022 | |
|
|
|
March 21, 2024[9] |
Development
The Halo television show's origins lie in the Halo film project worked on by Neil Blomkamp, Peter Jackson and WETA Workshop in the late 2000s. During the film's early production, Microsoft were purported to approach Hollywood with unrealistic expectations for their own profits and creative control, leading to the film's downfall. The lessons learned from this attempt at bringing Halo to live action saw Microsoft and 343 Industries come to the conclusion that Halos's more long-form storytelling nature may be more suited to television, rather than film.[10] A second attempt at creating a Halo film, based on the novel The Fall of Reach, was later started in 2007 with a speculative script written by Stuart Beattie. In 2010, it was later reported that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks had taken interest in the Halo property, and were investigating adapting the novels rather than the games to avoid the legal issues potentially present from the first film.[11]
2012 saw the release of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a five-part live-action webseries created to promote the release of Halo 4 and 2014 saw the release of Halo: Nightfall to debut on the Halo Channel and tie in with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians.
The Halo TV show was officially announced in 2013 at Microsoft's Xbox One reveal showcase event under the title Halo: The Television Series, to be worked on by 343 Industries in conjunction with Steven Spielberg as executive producer.[12][13] Spielberg had been brought onto the project thanks to his friendship with Xbox head Don Mattrick, and the series was soon pitched to Amblin Television (a production company co-founded by Spielberg).[10] Originally, the series was in production under the Xbox Entertainment Studios unit, though this division was ultimately shut.[10] In April 2014, the series was reported as still in the "deal-making phase" due to the service going through the "growing pains of establishing a business template for original content".[14] Ultimately, the show was given sole distribution rights on Showtime, following the closure of XES.[10][15] Around this time, the director for the abandoned Halo movie and the Halo: Landfall short, Neil Blomkamp, was rumoured to direct the show.[16] Additionally, screenwriter Stuart Beattie was reported to have worked on a large story bible for the production crew.[17]
In May 2014, the series was stated by Bonnie Ross to be expected to launch in fall 2015, around the same time as Halo 5: Guardians.[2] The series was later stated to have connections with Halo 5: Guardians and Halo: Nightfall, indicating an intent to interweave the narrative threads between the projects.[18] The show was elaborated by Phil Spencer that it "won't be filler".[19] Early versions of the script were stated by Kiki Wolfkill to lean more into the drama space familiar to Showtime, with storylines focusing on the personal lives of the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers.[10] Microsoft digital media president Nancy Tellem later stated that the two live-action projects would be connected by focusing on a character referenced in Halo 5, though did not elaborate on this connection.[20] At Gamescom 2014, the TV show was additionally announced to also debut on the Halo Channel.[21]
Ultimately, despite assurances by Teller that the show was in "active development"[20], very little news was shared for the next four years of development hell following the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios. It was reported at RTX 2016[22] and later again in 2017 that the show was still in production alongside Spielberg and Showtime.[23] In January of 2018 it was reported by Showtime president and CEO David Nevins that the show was still in "very active development", and that he had seen scripts.[24] It was later reported by Production Weekly that the show would begin filming in late 2018.[25]
In June 2018, the show was officially ordered by Showtime, with the company expecting ten episodes. This announcement was accompanied with a press release and more details, with Kyle Killen serving as executive producer and showrunner, and Rupert Wyatt directing. The series was stated to be an hour long, and expected to enter production in early 2019, with Kiki Wolfkill adding that the series was "already in the pre-production phase". This press release also gave the first glimpse into the series' story, taking place in the Human-Covenant War fought between humanity and the Covenant.[5][26] In August 2018, the show was expected to debut in 2020.[3]
However, in December 2018 Wyatt left the project in due to delays in production, which were unable to line up with his schedule.[27] Otto Bathurst was later brought on to direct in Wyatt's stead in February 2019, alongside serving as an executive producer. Additionally, the series was reduced from ten episodes to nine, as the writing team after mapping out the season and breaking down the stories. This change in directors brought a further delay into the commencement of production for Halo.[6] In March 2019, Steven Kane was brought onto the show as co-showrunner alongside Killen[28], though ultimately Killen later left the project in June 2019 due to not wanting to leave his family for an extended shoot overseas.[10] As such, co-showrunner Steven Kane stepped in to take over duties on the show.[28] By December 2019, the show had officially begun filming, and casting had been done for a number of major characters.[29]
Production was interrupted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with work-form-home guidelines forcing progress to be slowed and shooting temporarily halted. By the year's end, some shooting had resumed with COVID protocols in place.[30] Production resumed throughout 2021, with the series announced on February 24, 2021 for broadcaste and premiere on Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) - marking another delay from the previous release prediction.[31