Network’s ‘most ambitious series ever,’ says Nevins

Showtime has ordered a 10-episode season of scripted drama Halo (working title), based on the video game. Kyle Killen is executive producer, writer and showrunner. Rupert Wyatt will direct multiple episodes and executive produce.

Produced by Showtime in association with Microsoft/343 Industries, along with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, Halo, a live-action sci-fi series, will begin production in early 2019.

Halo will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. The series will weave “deeply drawn,” in Showtime’s words, personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.

Halo has sold more than 77 million copies worldwide and grossed more than $5 billion in sales.

“Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded,” said David Nevins, president and CEO, Showtime Networks Inc. “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 created and was showrunner of TV series Lone Star and Mind Games, and wrote the feature film The Beaver. In addition to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Wyatt’s film and television credits include upcoming sci-fi feature Captive State, as well as The Exorcist, The Gambler, Turn: Washington Spies and his debut feature film The Escapist.

Halo will be executive produced by Killen, Wyatt and Scott Pennington, along with Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank for Amblin Television. The series will be distributed globally by CBS Studios International.