Halo has received the Hollywood treatment, like many hit video games before it – Pokémon, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers.
All jokes aside, the iconic Xbox franchise is now a big-budget series set to premiere on streaming service Paramount+ next month.
Pablo Schreiber, from American Gods and Orange Is the New Black, leads the series as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a.k.a Spartan-117.
In the series, the Master Chief is dubbed by a civilian as “humanity’s best weapon”.
Schreiber is joined by Natascha McElhone – of The Truman Show and Californication fame, as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant and conflicted and creator of the Spartan super soldiers.
Cortana will be voiced by Jen Taylor, who is the reprising her role as the advanced AI system from the video game series.
The dramatic trailer – set to an epic orchestral version of In The Air Tonight – shows glimpses of the stunning CGI-created world of Master Chief in his quest against the Covenant – the alien antagonists looking to destroy humanity.
The incredible CGI is to be expected. According to Variety, the budget for the action series exceeded a whopping $41.3 million.
It also stars Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo), Natasha Culzac (The Witcher), Bentley Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Kate Kennedy (Catastrophe), Charlie Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Danny Sapani (Penny Dreadful).
Also joining the cast as original characters are Ryan McParland (6Degrees), Burn Gorman (The Expanse) and Fiona O’Shaughnessy (Nina Forever).
The series had experience a number of development and production issues since the series was first in 2014.
Filming started in 2019 in Ontario, Canada, then in 2020 Covid struck and affected the post-production the first five episodes.
It eventually resumed in Budapest, Hungary in February 2021.
The series is executive produced by Steven Kane, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, and directed by Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture.
Halo reinvented how people think about video games and has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon, having sold more than 82 million copies worldwide and grossing more than $6 billion in lifetime total sales revenue.
Halo will streaming exclusively On Paramount+ from March 24.