After over half a decade of development, the “Halo” TV series has arrived. A television adaptation of the wildly successful video game franchise has been in the works for a long while, changing networks and directors through the course of bringing this story to the screen.
The show is based on the 20-year “Halo” video game franchise, but charts a new path for its television story that is separate from – but still connected to – the video games.
The “Halo” TV series was originally set up at Showtime in 2018 with showrunner Kyle Killen and director Rupert Wyatt. The network, showrunner and director would all eventually change, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing exactly where to watch “Halo” now. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
The “Halo” TV series premieres on March 24, with one new episode released weekly.
“Halo” is streaming exclusively on Paramount+. The series was originally set up at Showtime, but was moved to Paramount+ as executives felt the new streaming service was a better fit.
The TV series is set in the year 2552 against the backdrop of a war that is thrown further into chaos when the Alien Covenant arrives. Master Chief John 117 and his fellow super soldiers arrive on the planet Madrigal to fight this new threat, but when Master Chief heads to his home planet of Reach after the battle – with a Madrigal survivor and a mysterious object in tow – he begins to question everything he’s been taught.
“Orange Is the New Black” alum Pablo Schreiber plays Master Chief in the TV series, while Natascha McElhone (“The Truman Show”) plays Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey. The ensemble also includes Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha Boo, Charlie Murphy as Makee, Shabana azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes and Danny Sapani as Captain Jacob Keyes. Jen Taylor also reprises her voice role as Cortana from the video games.
The “Halo” TV series takes place in a timeline and continuity separate from that of the video games, dubbed “The Silver Timeline.” Franchise Creator Director Frank O’Connor explained:
“We want to use the existing ‘Halo’ lore, history, canon, and characters wherever they make sense for a linear narrative, but also separate the two distinctly so that we don’t invalidate the core canon or do unnatural things to force a first-person video game into an ensemble TV show. The game canon and its extended lore in novels, comics, and other outlets is core, original, and will continue unbroken for as long as we make ‘Halo’ games. To be clear: these will be two parallel, VERY similar, but ultimately separate timelines whose main events and characters will intersect and align throughout their very different cadences.”
The first season consists of nine episodes.
Yes, Paramount+ has already renewed “Halo” for a second season, albeit with a different showrunner. Kyle Killen departed the series as showrunner before production began, while Steven Kane saw Season 1 through production and release and is stepping away. For Season 2, David Wiener (“Brave New World”) will serve as showrunner.
