When it comes to adapting a video game into a live-action adventure, it’s a tricky proposition. After all, you have to create something a mainstream audience can invest in while making sure fans of the source material are satisfied. Bargain bins are filled with examples of movies that missed the mark, but Showtime is betting it can right the wrongs of previous adaptations with its upcoming Halo TV show.
Speaking to press at the TCA press tour, Showtime Networks co-president Gary Levine revealed casting announcements for the character of Cortana, among others, and detailed how the show plans to appeal to fans of the Halo games. “The good news is we’ve been working very closely with 343 [Studios] through the entire development process,” he explained. “And they are there both as a resource to tell us stuff we don’t know and also to make sure we’re not violating anything big in the canon. So we’re doing this with total confidence that the fans are going to embrace what we’re doing.”
He also noted that while the graphic content of the show will be along the lines of what’s seen in other Showtime series–“PG-13,” as he put it–“violence is going to have consequence.” When it comes to a war between the USNC and the Covenant, that’s reassuring to hear.
The big question remains whether we’ll see Master Chief’s face on the new show, though. When GameSpot asked Levine about it a year ago, he teased Chief’s potential unmasking as “a key question and an important part of our series.”
While Levine still won’t reveal whether viewers will see the character’s face, American Gods alum Pablo Schreiber has been cast in the role. What that in mind, we asked what made the actor such a good fit for a potentially faceless part. “What I love about Pablo is he has the physicality to be a Spartan, to be Master Chief,” Levine explained. “But he is A: a great dramatic actor and B: he’s got such a twinkle in his eyes. [He’s] so good with wit and comedy. And we want the Master Chief to have that range. And Pablo brings the range.”
It’s still too early to tell, given that Halo doesn’t begin production until the fall. Our money’s on Chief taking off his mask to show viewers that “twinkle in his eyes,” though.
Halo is scheduled to debut on Showtime in 2021.
Disclosure: Showtime is owned by CBS, the parent company of GameSpot.
