News Showtime making a ‘Halo’ TV Show, Filming starts in 2019
- Thread starter Mach5
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I wonder if it will adapt the games or just take place in that universe? There's really a lot they could do and never even show Master Chief.
I absolutely enjoy the Halo Universe worldbuilding. There is more than the video games to enjoy if you're willing to dig in to books, and ships and such. Even the series Red vs. Blue eventually dove tailed very well in to the lore and world.
For those unfamiliar, Microsoft had a short film produced leading up to Halo 4 called "Forward Unto Dawn." It is told from the perspective of officer cadets in the UNSC and how they come to view the Spartans. The most telling scene comes at the end. And I think it works very well with the theme the production staff on this show are going for:
If it somewhat adapted the games, it would be interesting to see characters like the Arbiter go from a villain to a hero and see Cortana grow, slowly fall apart and ultimately become a villain. It would be nice to see the Fall of Reach too. Maybe have that as the pilot, setting up how scary the Covenant are and how unprepared humanity is against them and exactly take the time to make it seem like a real world with people on it and how losing it was such a major blow to the humans.
Reach could be a good place to start, but it's ending is a bit of a downer. But, it is good because it starts on a colony world and showcases some of the average life and world building before the war takes center stage. So, it could work.
Bungie already gave them a lot to work with.
They did. That's why I'm excited for the TV show. So many possibilities.
I can see her as Halsey/Cortana, I wonder if they’re de-age her for Cortana. Looks like it set before the Covenant war and around the time of war with the Insurrectionists given that Soren is in it.
This would be a great opening scene for a series though.
This would be a great opening scene for a series though.
Hot damn!
I remember reading an article somewhere about why awhile back. Showtime ultimately didn't think Halo would fit with their longtime brand of more down-to-earth shows, IIRC. Paramount+ was considered a better platform and one that would benefit more from having a show like Halo...
Full trailer dropped today:
This time, we get some good views of the aliens. Looks like the Elite armor is taking more cues from the Arbiter's look, specifically, than the "generic" outfit. Jackals, too, back to being more lizard-y than bird-y, and apparently with the plasma-daggers the Elites had in Reach. Some good looks at familiar ships, the Pelicans are beefier, but the Covenant Phantoms and Corvettes look straight out of the games, as does the out-of-focus glimpse of the Forerunner ship in High Charity over the shoulder of the Covenant's pet human. They did a really good job finding "Ron Pearlman, but thirty years ago" for Lord Hood. Not a lot of information on the actual meat-and-potatoes, but so far, I approve of foregrounding the fact that the Halo novels accidentally cribbed a bit too much from Starship Troopers and made the good guys a military dictatorship dystopia run by their own secret police, and making finding Halo the McGuffin that starts the series off is a good way to justify the title (and existence of the show) while expanding on elements that have been underserved in the core games. Seeing the old Marathon symbol (the glyph for "Reclaimer" in Halo's lore) does my Mac-loving heart proud.
This time, we get some good views of the aliens. Looks like the Elite armor is taking more cues from the Arbiter's look, specifically, than the "generic" outfit. Jackals, too, back to being more lizard-y than bird-y, and apparently with the plasma-daggers the Elites had in Reach. Some good looks at familiar ships, the Pelicans are beefier, but the Covenant Phantoms and Corvettes look straight out of the games, as does the out-of-focus glimpse of the Forerunner ship in High Charity over the shoulder of the Covenant's pet human. They did a really good job finding "Ron Pearlman, but thirty years ago" for Lord Hood. Not a lot of information on the actual meat-and-potatoes, but so far, I approve of foregrounding the fact that the Halo novels accidentally cribbed a bit too much from Starship Troopers and made the good guys a military dictatorship dystopia run by their own secret police, and making finding Halo the McGuffin that starts the series off is a good way to justify the title (and existence of the show) while expanding on elements that have been underserved in the core games. Seeing the old Marathon symbol (the glyph for "Reclaimer" in Halo's lore) does my Mac-loving heart proud.
Speaking as someone with no real nostalgic affection for the series* I have to say the trailer really didn't wow me. It looks semi-expensive, competently acted, but it's not pulling me into the world or making me want to learn more. I really hope some of that exposition is just for the trailer and not an actual episode, because; damn, that's some heavy handed on the nose "let's telegraph the main characters entire arc progression" stuff.
I'll check it out just for the sake of curiosity, but I have to say if it didn't have the weight of such a notable brand behind it, I'd probably write it off as middling generic sci-fi schlock and move on.
Also; a Phil Collins cover? When you have one of the most recognisable musical themes in video games? OK . . . That's a choice I guess.
* For context: I played the original game on PC way back when, and a little of the second, but that's it. It was OK for it's time so far as FPSs went. Not a patch on Half-Life of course, very spammy and repetitive at times, and with an aesthetic design that should have had James Cameron contacting his lawyers if everyone and their dog hadn't already ripped off that 'Aliens' look. The characters were all archetypal cardboard cut-outs, the protagonist was (by design) an empty vessel that was made of equal parts Boba Fett and Doom Guy. The design of the Covenant and the use of the ring world concept was one of the only things that made it stand out to me at the time.
I'll check it out just for the sake of curiosity, but I have to say if it didn't have the weight of such a notable brand behind it, I'd probably write it off as middling generic sci-fi schlock and move on.
Also; a Phil Collins cover? When you have one of the most recognisable musical themes in video games? OK . . . That's a choice I guess.
* For context: I played the original game on PC way back when, and a little of the second, but that's it. It was OK for it's time so far as FPSs went. Not a patch on Half-Life of course, very spammy and repetitive at times, and with an aesthetic design that should have had James Cameron contacting his lawyers if everyone and their dog hadn't already ripped off that 'Aliens' look. The characters were all archetypal cardboard cut-outs, the protagonist was (by design) an empty vessel that was made of equal parts Boba Fett and Doom Guy. The design of the Covenant and the use of the ring world concept was one of the only things that made it stand out to me at the time.
I was never much of a fan of the games because I don't like first-person shooters, but the TV series looks really good.