Halo (TV series)
Halo is an American military science fiction television series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane for the streaming service Paramount+, based on the video game franchise of the same name. Produced by Showtime Networks, 343 Industries, Amblin Television, One Big Picture, and Chapter Eleven, the series follows a 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of several advanced alien races determined to eradicate the human race. Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana, with the latter reprising her role from  the video game series, and are joined by Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Danny Sapani, Bokeem Woodbine, and Natascha McElhone. Development for a television series began in 2013. Killen was hired in June 2018, and the series officially announced a 9-episode order for Paramount+. Filming began in Ontario, Canada in October 2019, although post-production for the first five episodes was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming eventually resumed in Budapest, Hungary, in February 2021. "Halo" premiered on March 24, 2022, on Paramount+, with the series already renewed for  a second season. A portion of the series was shown at SXSW on March 14, 2022. Premise. "Halo" is set to follow "an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. "Halo" will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future." Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill revealed that the series is a standalone story that takes place within its own "Silver Timeline" that is separate from and inspired by the core canon and lore of the transmedia franchise rather than a continuation, adaptation, prequel, or sequel, explaining  that they wished to give the two "Halo" canons a chance to evolve individually to suit their media. Production. Development. The television series had gone through development hell with a planned release in 2015 with Steven Spielberg as producer that later changed to a 2019 release with Rupert Wyatt as director and producer, then a 2020 release; ultimately releasing in 2022 with Otto Bathurst replacing Wyatt. On May 21, 2013, Steven Spielberg was attached in executive producing a television series based on the video game franchise "Halo", distributed by Xbox Entertainment Studios and Spielberg's company Amblin Television, to be  titled "Halo: The Television Series". As of August 2015, the series had still been in active development. On June 28, 2018, Showtime was given a 10-episode series order. Kyle Killen was set to be showrunner, writer and executive producer, while Rupert Wyatt was attached as director and executive producer. On August 12, it was announced that Master Chief would be the main lead of the series and that the series would tell a new story from the video games while respecting their canon at the same time. On December 3, Wyatt stepped down as director and EP due to  scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Otto Bathurst in February 2019, when it was reported that Bathurst would be directing the pilot along with several other episodes. It was also revealed that the episode count had decreased from 10 episodes to 9. In March 2019, Steven Kane was added as co-showrunner alongside Killen. On February 24, 2021, the series was moved from Showtime to Paramount+. Showtime president Gary Levine said that the show was an outlier for the company's brand, and as a "big broad tentpole show" it was a better fit on Paramount's service. On June  25, 2021, it was reported that both Kane and Killen would be exiting as show runners following the completion of season one. Killen had left prior to the start of production, due to him feeling like he wasn't able to fulfill the duties of showrunner, with Kane taking the reins as lead show-runner until post production work had been completed. However, should the show get picked up for a second season, Kane would not return. In January 2022, it was revealed by executive producer Justin Falvey that the show has potential to last multiple seasons and that David  Wiener was being eyed as the showrunner for a potential season two, with Kane staying on board as a consultant. On February 15, 2022, ahead its series premiere, Paramount+ renewed for a second season, with Wiener set as showrunner and executive producer. Casting. From April–August 2019, the cast for the series was announced, with Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief. He was joined by Yerin Ha, Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac and Kate Kennedy. In November 2020, Jen Taylor replaced McElhone as Cortana. Filming. Principal photography commenced in October 2019. In 2019, the series spent  over $40 million on production costs. The five filmed episodes were re-edited under the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, with production on the sixth episode and reshoots being planned in Ontario, Canada. Filming eventually resumed fully in Budapest in February 2021. The total production of the series including the post-production is estimated to cost more than $200 million for season 1. Music. On February 14, 2022, it was revealed that Sean Callery would compose the score for the series. Release. Marketing. The first trailer for the series debuted online during the 2022 AFC Championship Game, while also revealing  the March release date. Broadcast. The first two episodes premiered ahead of release on March 14 at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. The series then debuted on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022. The first episode set a record as Paramount+'s most-watched series premiere globally in its first 24 hours, though no exact viewership numbers were revealed. Reception. The first season currently holds a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 6.35/10. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Halo" is too derivative of better science-fiction series to emerge a fully-formed elite , but glimmers of promise and faithfulness to the source material signal it's not out of the fight just yet." On Metacritic, the show has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".