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Showtime’s Halo has entered production and announced that the main cast has been assembled for the adaptation (via DualShockers).
In 2018, Showtime revealed that it was working on an adaptation of the franchise that would ‘enthrall fans of the game while also drawing the uninitiated into a world of complex characters that populate this unique universe.’ Showtime president and CEO David Nevins added that Halo would be its ‘most ambitious series ever’, telling the story of ‘an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant.’ The show had suffered a stumble when it lost director and executive producer Rupert Wyatt due to scheduling conflicts.
Otto Bathurst, well-known for his work on Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror, swooped in to save the day. Yet, news on the show’s progression was sporadic. In August, Halo found its Master Chief. Pablo Schreiber – from Orange Is the New Black and American Gods – will become the Spartan super-soldier, but there’s still no word whether he’ll forgo the hard hat, unlike his video game version. Yerin Ha is an Australian actress who has landed the role of a totally new character named Quan Ah. She is a ‘shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.’
The cast is assembled. The table reads are complete. Production on the @Showtime Halo series is about to begin! pic.twitter.com/KNrPLYx260
— Halo on Showtime (@SHO_Halo) November 8, 2019
Rejoice! The television network broke the news that production has begun for Showtime’s Halo and it is right on schedule. Perhaps the radio silence was the result of the cast and crew busying away like bees. Space bees. Bees in space. Also, Showtime has revealed three more characters. Captain Jacob Keyes, who featured in Halo Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved, will be played by Danny Sapani. He’s been in Harlots, Penny Dreadful, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
His daughter Dr Miranda Keyes will be portrayed by Olive Gray, who is known for Half Moon Investigations and EastEnders, and she popped up in an episode of Netflix’s Sex Education. And finally, Makee is another new character entering the Halo canon. She is a human who was taken in by the Covenant when she lost her own family. Charlie Murphy will be Makee, and the actress played Jessie Eden in Peaky Blinders and Queen Iseult in The Last Kingdom.
Production is taking place in Budapest, Hungary, and the show is expected to hit the small screen some time in 2021.
