I need a weapon… A Halo TV series is coming to Showtime!

There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now…
-Prophet of truth

Today is a big day for fans of the Halo franchise because a live action Halo TV series is on its way! Showtime president and CEO David Nevins has announced that the network in partnership with Amblin Television and 343 Industries has ordered a 10-episode season based on the extremely popular video game franchise!

According to the press release, Halo (working title) will apparently take place in “the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatising an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant”. For those out there that aren’t fans of the series this means that the universe in this live action Halo TV series will be based around Halo: Combat Evolved which was the first Halo game in this still expanding world.

However this isn’t the first time someone has attempted to adapt Halo from its video game roots to the big screen. There have been numerous failed attempts to turn the franchise into a movie and in a previous attempt to transition the Halo franchise into a mini series we were given the rather sub-par digital series Halo: Nightfall. So when rumours of a big budget Showtime Live action Halo TV series started flying around back in 2013, with Steven Spielberg said to be at the helm, fans were excited but dubious. Updates were periodic but overall the universe was all too quiet and with Halo’s long history of will-they-wont-they, to quote Cortana… “Don’t make a girl a promise you know you can’t keep.”

Thankfully all good things come to those who wait and Halo has done just that to its loyal and extremely dedicated fan base. Whilst there’s no news yet on who will be in front of the camera, the Halo TV series will have quite the impressive line up of people working behind it. Kyle Killen (Awake) will be serving as executive producer, writer and showrunner and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is also along to direct multiple episodes as well as executive produce the series of one hour-long episodes which are set to enter production in early 2019.

Nevins has 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 enthral fans of the game while also drawing the uninitiated into a world of complex characters that populate this unique universe.”

So if Nightfall left you feeling like a plasma to the back of the head, this new venture should have you screaming “wort wort wort!”