Showtime’s ‘Halo’ Television Series Will Tell A New Story
Showtime is planning to air its upcoming television series adaptation of the Halo gaming franchise in 2020. Fans are indeed excited about seeing their favorite game hit the small screen. A recent announcement from Showtime’s president of programming, Gary Levine, hit IGN stating that the Master Chief will in fact be a leading character, but he will not be the only protagonist in the series. During a recent panel, Levine was asked if the show will tell the original story, or if the TV series will drift away from the source material, much the way The Walking Dead drifted from the original comics. Levine did confirm in his response that Showtime will be creating a new story.
“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.”
While at the Showtime panel for the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Levine and Showtime President and CEO David Nevins let fans in on the inner working of the television network’s soon to be Halo series. Levine admitted that the show is an “enormous undertaking.”
Locations for filming will be set in “multiple locations” on “foreign planets,” which suggests that the studio may shoot in a studio backlot rather than traveling to find foreign country locations. This is a practice that applies to various other big budget series, such as Game of Thrones, which has previously been filmed in studio backlots.
Apparently the writer who has been hired is not known for sci-fi or big battle movies, Levine said during the panel. Meanwhile, David Nevins pointed out that the genre will be “very different” and much more “futuristic.”
“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.”
Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt will be helming the episodes for at least the first 10 episodes. Kyle Killen will be writing and also serving as the showrunner for this Halo TV series. While production has not yet began, Nevins has confirmed that he has read the scripts, saying that he feels Killen has created a “brilliant, expansive world.” Nevins also remarked that he believes this script will position Halo as Showtime’s “most ambitious series ever.”
One difficulty being faced by the studio is having a lead character whose face is never seen, according to Levin, who admitted that this aspect of Master Chief’s character “is a key question and an important part of our series, is all I’ll say.”
