The Halo Series Is In Big Trouble, Just Fired Everyone
Are we ever going to see the Halo series happen on Paramount+? It has suffered another setback.
This article is more than 2 years old
Looks like the behind-the-scenes drama for Paramount+’s live-action Halo series has no plans of ceasing anytime soon. After having gone through a trillion changes and departures already, the expensive drama show will be parting with its second showrunner, Steven Kane, even before its first season debuts on the streaming platform.
From the very beginning, the Halo series has been playing host to many dramas and delays. The creation of the series began way back in 2014 but it remained in development hell for years. Initially, the series was supposed to release in 2015, with Steven Spielberg attached as executive producer. And since then, the series has undergone many changes ranging from its number of episodes, debut platform, executive producers, and showrunners.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the latest change the Halo series has undergone is that as soon as the ongoing production of its first season wraps up in Budapest, its second showrunner, Steven Kane (The Last Ship), will be parting ways with the show.
When planning for the series once again began in 2018, Kyle Killen (Awake) was attached to the project as the original showrunner, writer, and executive producer, while Rupert Wyatt was attached as director of multiple episodes and also as executive producer. But in 2019, just months after a second showrunner i.e., Kane was hired to take care of the production on Budapest, Killen exited the show. So, now if the Halo series does manage to complete the rest of its production without any more hitches, makes it to our screens despite all the difficulties and delays it has been facing, and gets renewed for a second season, a new showrunner will be needed to helm it.
Before Killen’s departure, Wyatt had also stepped down as director as well EP and was replaced by Otto Bathurst (Black Mirror) in February 2019. Also, originally the Halo series was supposed to be debut on Showtime with 10 episodes, but soon CBS merged with Viacom and formed ViacomCBS after which the debut of the series, now having nine episodes, was moved to Paramount+ in February this year.
For now, not much is known about Halo or when exactly the series will debut, though sometime in 2022 is still expected. It has been reported that the supersoldier, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, played by Pablo Schreiber, will be the prime character of the live-action series. The series will tell a story different from the video games but will respect its canon. As reported by Deadline, Halo will depict “an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant,” while telling personal stories woven with adventure and a “richly imagined vision of the future.”
As of now, the confirmed cast of the Halo series includes Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Halsey, a UNSC scientist who created Spartan-II Project as the leads. The series will also see Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes, Kate Kennedy as Kai-125, Natasha Culzac as Riz-028, Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134, Charlie Murphy as Makee, Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Director of ONI, and Danny Sapani (Black Panther) in an undisclosed role.
