Showtime orders Halo TV series
Showtime has announced that it has greenlit a 10-episode season of the live-action drama Halo (working title) based on the award-winning and record-shattering Xbox franchise. Kyle Killen (Awake) is serving as writer, showrunner, and executive producer, with Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) set to direct multiple episodes as well as executive produce.
Reinventing how people think about video games, Halo and has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon. The franchise has sold more than 77 million copies worldwide and has grossed more than $5 billion in sales.
In the Showtime adaptation, Halo will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure, and a richly imagined vision of the future.
David Nevins, President and CEO of Showtime Networks Inc., said: “Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded. In the history of television, there simply has never been enough great science fiction. 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.”
Killen is known for serving as creator and showrunner for Awake, Lone Star, and Mind Games. He also wrote the feature film The Beaver, directed by Jodie Foster. Wyatt’s film and television credits include Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Captive State, The Exorcist, The Gambler, Turn: Washington Spies, and his debut feature The Escapist.
Halo is produced by Showtime in association with Microsoft/343 Industries, along with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television. Scott Pennington will executive produce alongside Killen and Wyatt, along with Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank for Amblin Television. The series will be distributed globally by CBS Studios International.
Halo the series will begin production in early 2019.
