Author: Patrick Shanley / Source: The Hollywood Reporter
More than four years after it was first unveiled, Showtime’s live-action Halo drama series has finally been given an official order of 10 episodes and a production start date of early 2019.
From exec producer, writer and showrunner Kyle Killen and Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt, the new series is a major development for fans of Microsoft’s best-selling video game franchise, which boasts more than $5 billion in sales since the first installment, Halo: Combat Evolved, hit shelves for the Xbox back in 2001.
In the time since its original release, the Halo gaming franchise has released more than 10 games — including installments of the main series and spinoffs — multiple novels and comic books.
Given the wide breadth of media and titles in the franchise, to say there is a deep well of source material for Showtime to draw from is an understatement.
One of the major challenges that comes with adapting the series is its main protagonist, Master Chief, the hulking, helmeted leader of a group of super soldiers code-named the Spartans fighting for the United Nations Space Command in the 26th century. Master Chief is a man of few words, and more importantly for the purposes of adapting the media to television screens, his face is never seen (unless you count a brief, extreme close-up shot of his eyes shrouded in shadow at the end of Halo 4, which you shouldn’t).
While Master Chief is an intriguing figure in games, where the player assumes direct control of the protagonist, focusing a television series around a character whose face is never seen is could create a bigger challenge. Couple that with his nearly god-like strength and prowess in battle and you have a character that does not make for a compelling lead in for a premium cable network drama. That said, Master Chief is the “face” of the franchise, and it would be a criminal misstep for Showtime not to include him in the series in one way or another, likely as a strong supporting character and, even more likely, as someone who does, on occasion, remove his helmet.
We know that Showtime’s series will be set during a “26th century…
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