Master Chief To Star In Showtime’s ‘Halo’ Series
While a Halo film may not be happening any time soon, fans of the franchise still have Showtime’s upcoming TV series to look forward to. Pre-production on the show is currently underway, and we now have some insight into how the series is being developed.
In a recent interview with IGN, Showtime’s President of Programming Gary Levine stated that Master Chief will be “a lead character” in Showtime’s upcoming Halo TV series. Levine told IGN that Chief’s identity (something players know very little of in the video game franchise) is “a key question and an important part of our series.”
Figuring out how to properly utilize Master Chief’s character has probably been one of the major issues that prevented a Halo film from being green-lit the first place. On top of not having much information on Chief’s identity, players never actually get to see his face. This works fine in a video game since the first-person perspective allows players to project themselves into his character, but that same effect will just not work in a full-length feature film. Even examples like Dredd or V for Vendetta – where a lead actor wore a mask for the entirety of the movie – featured co-lead actors that could help carry the emotional heft of the narrative. To that end, Levine added that Master Chief won’t be the only protagonist in the series. Whether or not other popular characters from the Halo franchise will show up in the series remains to be seen.
It’s also worth noting that Levine stated that this Halo series will be a completely original story. Showtime’s take on Halo will not be a retelling of the video game narrative or an adaptation of any of the existing books, comic-books, or other expanded material. This makes sense, as it will allow both fans of the existing material and average TV viewers to have a brand new experience to enjoy. Levine added:
“our hopes and dreams are that it will have enormous appeal to Halo fans and will also appeal to Showtime drama fans.”
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“It is a new story but we are being incredibly respectful of the canon and working with the Microsoft 343 people to be sure we don’t violate any of that.”
Though I believe telling an original story is the best move for Showtime, Levine’s choice of words are very interesting. His statement currently sounds as though this brand new story will take place within Halo’s existing canon. Does this mean the TV show will be a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved? Will it be a sequel that takes place after Halo Infinite? Or will it exist in-between certain video game narratives? Only time will tell.
Showtime CEO David Nevins also recently stated that the network took a long time trying to find a good script. 343 Industries first announced a live-action TV series produced by Steven Spielberg way back in 2013. Nevins claims the five-year delay was caused by deliberately looking for a talented writer who had little experience with sci-fi. Nevins states:
“It took us a long time to get the script but we felt like we had something that was really interesting and felt like it belonged on Showtime in terms of its character depth, and it’s gonna be a big show.
We made a conscious decision to hire a writer not known for sci-fi and not known for big battle movies, because that’s already baked into the Halo franchise and we will service that, but we also wanted to ensure that we were getting beneath the formidable armor of the Spartans and really getting inside the team drama so it felt like it belonged on Showtime.”
Levine confirmed that the series will take place on multiple planets, so the scale of the show will likely be quite large. He also described the production as “an enormous undertaking,” calling it Showtime’s “most ambitious show ever”
Kyle Killen – who wrote films such as The Beaver and Scenic Route, along with the TV show Awake – will serve as the series’ writer and showrunner. Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt is expected to helm several episodes in the first season, which is set to include a 10-epsiode run. Steven Spielberg is still attached as an executive producer.
Showtime’s Halo series is still in the pre-production stage, but production is still set to begin in 2019. If nothing goes wrong during the process (finger’s crossed) the show will likely air on the premium cable network some time in 2020.
