Halo TV Series Confirmed For Showtime

One of Xbox's most popular game franchises is getting an adaptation for television. A live-action Halo series is coming to Showtime, which will begin production in early 2019. The minds behind movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Awake will produce the show.

Halo, which is currently the working title, will be based on the Xbox video game franchise. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will serve as executive producer and direct multiple episodes. Kyle Killen (Awake) will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. The series will be produced by Showtime, in association with Microsoft/343 Industries and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television.

Showtime ordered a 10-episode season for its first run. Each episode of the sci-fi drama will be an hour long. Spielberg has been developing this series since 2013, and things were looking good this past January, when Showtime President David Nevins said it was in active development.

"Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded," said Nevins. "In the history of television, there simply has never been enough great science fiction. Kyle Killen's scripts are thrilling, expansive and provocative, Rupert Wyatt is a wonderful, world-building director, and their vision of Halo will enthrall fans of the game while also drawing the uninitiated into a world of complex characters that populate this unique universe."

No release date has been set for the series, but the show will begin production in early 2019.

Disclosure: Showtime is a CBS subsidiary, GameSpot's parent company.