Though fans may never get to see Peter Jackson’sHalomovie, Showtime’s television series is gaining more and more momentum as it’s been recently announced that two more major characters have been cast: Captain Jacob Keyes and his daughter, Miranda Keyes.
David Sapani fromPenny Dreadfulfame will be playing Jacob Keyes, one of the most brilliant tacticians in the UNSC Navy and commander of thePillar of Autumn. Olive Gray (fromHalf Moon Investigations) has been cast as Dr. Miranda Keyes, his daughter and fellow commander in the UNSC Navy. Fans may remember that Miranda didn’t show up untilHalo2, after the demise of her father, so this will be the first time fans get to see their relationship together on screen.
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The rest ofHalo’s main cast had been announced earlier this year, withNatasha McElhone(Californication) playing both Dr. Catherine Halsey (Miranda Keyes' mother) and everyone’s favorite advanced AI, Cortana. Also appearing in the show will be Emmy-nominated actor Bokeem Woodbine (from the second season ofFargo) as Soren-066, a candidate in the SPARTAN-II program featured in the short story Pariah. And finally, there is Pablo Schreiber (Orange is the New Black,American Gods) as the Master Chief, or John-117 as he’ll be referred to in the show.
Not much has been revealed in terms of plot, but given the list ofbadass characters being cast forHalo(including several other SPARTAN-II candidates), it’s clear this series will take place before the first game. Thewar with the Covenantis a plot point with several characters, and it’s very possible Master Chief’s origins will be explored in this new series. It’s been theorized that this series might adapt theHalonovelFall of Reach, but nothing’s been confirmed.
Showtime president Gary Levine assured fans that the series will stay faithful to the Halo franchise and that “We’re not going to violate anything that’s in the canon.” However, there’s already rumors that the series might show Master Chief’s face, so who knows how faithful Showtime’s actually going to be. There are certainly many thingsfans want to see in a Halo TV series, faithfulness to the original source material most of all.
Showtime is calling theHaloshowits most “ambitious series ever” and is partnering up with 343 Industries and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment to create it. Otto Bathurst, who’s worked as director onBlack MirrorandPeaky Blinders, will direct and executive produce theHaloseries. He replaced director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist,Rise of the Planet of the Apes) who left the project back in December of 2018.
TheHaloseries is set to debut in 2021 on Showtime and is starting production in Budapest later this year.
