In the final
Community Update of 2018, 343 Industries offered a brief update on the status of Showtime's live-action
Halo television series.
In the post, Kiki Wolfkill, Studio Head of Transmedia, reflected on the bumpy year which culminated in the departure of executive producer Ruper Wyatt, who was also slated to direct multiple episodes of the show. Wyatt announced his exit from the project in late December, citing
"changes to the production schedule" as his reason.
Despite the setback, Wolfkill said production on the show as moving at a "very rapid pace" over the last few months. In addition to refining the script and overall concept of the show, executives are also "knee-deep" in conversations with potential directors.
"It’s been a year of momentum and energy and a few roadbumps along the way but we are ending the year on the Halo TV series happily exhausted. Not unlike game development, it has been a very rapid pace over the last few months of script refinement, concepting, and practical prototyping (but unlike game development, much of this is physical prototyping which is a whole other thrill)! There have been short flights, long flights (ask Frank about his unobtainium flight status), skype calls, and working sessions all of which have left us excited to come back in January and continue to build our foundation for this show. In the meantime, we’re knee-deep in director conversations and will share deets when we’re back! Happy Halo Holiday vibes to you all!"
At the time of Wyatt's exit, Showtime's president of programming, Gary Levine, said that the adaptation of Halo was "evolving beautifully with rich characters, compelling stories and powerful scripts."
We don't yet have an official synopsis of the series, but Showtime previously described it as “an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant,” weaving “deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future." Based on the beloved Xbox video game franchise, Showtime CEO David Nevils called it a "futuristic, space-based science-fiction."
Showtime has reportedly ordered 10 episodes for the video game adaptation. A premiere date for Halo has not yet been announced.