A new set photo from Showtime’s Halo TV show featuring star Pablo Schreiber teases Master Chief in the live-action adaptation. Halo, the critically acclaimed, smash hit video game series, originally developed by Bungie studios for the Xbox game console, is a pop culture phenomenon. The first person shooter, initially spawned back in 2001, centers around humanity’s interstellar war with an alien group known as The Covenant. In it, humanity’s forces are primarily backed by futuristic military soldiers known as Spartans, and led by the iconic Master Chief John-117. The success of the Halo franchise has since expanded way beyond just that of video games, and now includes comic books, animated series, and toys, to name a few.
The live-action Halo TV series, produced by Microsoft-owned 343 Industries, the current developer of Halo video games, began filming in 2019. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg (Falling Skies) and starring Schreiber as Master Chief, the Halo show, set to air on the Showtime network, found its production halted by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. Despite the shutdown, Schreiber remained conditioned and regularly updated fans of his fitness routine, maintaining combat-ready shape for when production would eventually return.
Yesterday, Schreiber released a set photo via his Instagram account, announcing that the Halo TV series has resumed filming. In the photo, he’s posed in front of his set trailer, and sporting the bottom half of his Master Chief helmet, the first glimpse fans have gotten of how the stars will look in costume. You can see the photo here:
Halo’s return to shooting for Showtime, if nothing else, comes as welcome news for fans of the franchise. In addition to the TV show, Xbox and Microsoft are also in the midst of debuting their brand new, next-gen console, the Xbox Series X. Halo devotees had hoped the newest game installment, Halo Infinite, would be available at launch, but that turned out not to be the case. After its preview unveiling at the Xbox Games Showcase back in July, Infinite failed to wow audiences who were overwhelmingly disappointed with the graphics and aesthetics that didn’t live up to 343’s next-gen promises. Whether due to the COVID-19 interruption or the developers heading back to the lab for retooling, release for Halo Infinite has been pushed to a still, yet-to-be-determined date for next year.
Halo’s expansion into a live-action television series, and an extremely expensive one, could be considered by some to be a risky gamble, given the limited success, historically, video games have found making that transition. Mortal Kombat: Konquest for example, a full length series adapted for television, was a complete failure with fans and critics alike. However, viewer interest and reception for such ambition has changed greatly in recent years. The surprisingly well received Sonic the Hedgehog currently resides as the #3 highest grossing film, domestically, for 2020. And similar, big ticket space opera franchise spinoff, starring a hero clad in armor from head-to-toe, The Mandalorian, continues to blow viewers away. Along with the impressive creative talent attached, and launching within the current, extremely welcoming landscape for sci-fi and video game adapted programming, Halo may be a hit when it finally lands in 2021.
