Showtime Orders 10 Episodes Of Long-Dormant 'Halo' TV Series

A long-dormant TV project appears to have finally emerged from its hibernation, if Showtime is to be believed. The premium cable network announced Thursday it had ordered 10 episodes of a television series based on the popular “Halo” video game franchise. The project was originally announced five years ago.

The news was confirmed in a Thursday blog post on the official Halo Waypoint website by Kiki Wolfkill, the head of transmedia for “Halo” developer 343 Industries. The show will be headed by “Lone Star” creator Kyle Killen and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” director Rupert Wyatt, with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television producing. There are plans to go into production in 2019.

The biggest news here is that there is news at all. The “Halo” TV series was originally announced in 2013 at the same press conference where Microsoft announced its Xbox One console. Spielberg appeared in a short video to talk about the project, praising the “Halo” universe as a space for science fiction storytelling.

However, Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios brand shut down in 2014 and the show was given to Showtime, where updates were sparse between then and now. Thursday’s announcement was the first legitimate sign of life for the still-unnamed “Halo” TV show in a while. Even so, aside from the announcement of a creative team, there are no details about what kind of story the hour-long, scripted drama will tell.

The “Halo” video game series debuted in 2001 and helped propel the Xbox brand to great success in the following years. The games tell the story of John-117, a galactic supersoldier also known as Master Chief, as he navigates a years-long war between humans and an alien faction called the Covenant. The games have made billions for Microsoft over the years.

“Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded,” Showtime president David Nevins said, according to Deadline. That is big talk from a network that aired the hugely acclaimed “Twin Peaks: The Return” last year.

Whether the “Halo” TV series heavily features Master Chief or strays away from the Human-Covenant war entirely remains to be seen. But fans of the games can rest assured that the show apparently still exists at all.