Showtime’s President of Programming Gary Levine recently spoke with IGN during the Television Associations Press Tour, regarding details about their adaption of Microsoft’s crown jewel shooter, Halo. Levine clarified with IGN that Master Chief will in fact be a main character of the series, but stressed that there will be more than one protagonist. No further details were given about the identities of these protagonists or the narrative structure the series may take.
Levine also divulged a bit into the creative process for the show, explaining that while the new series will service fan’s dreams of seeing epic Halo action on screen, the series’ main purpose will be to explore the characters and relationships that inhabit the Halo universe.
“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.”
Halo has seen a long and rocky history with live action adaptions that have included the likes of Neil Blomkamp and Steven Spielberg, whose production company, Amblin Entertainment, is still involved. Microsoft and 343 Industries announced back at the end of June that Showtime had officially ordered the series, with production aiming to begin in early 2019. The series has recruited Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt to helm multiple episodes of the first season, with scripts by Kyle Killen.
