Halo is one of those video game franchises that is ripe for a big or small screen adaptation. Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp had made attempts to make the former happen. Although, it “ended up collapsing,” and as a result, the film was put on an indefinite hold. But now the game is respawning for the small screen at Showtime. According to new reports, a Halo TV show has found its showrunner and will start filming in 2019. More on the story below.

The Hollywood Reporter says Kyle Killen will be acting as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Additionally, Showtime has picked up the series for a 10-episode run. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will direct multiple episodes of the series.

“Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded,” Showtime CEO David Nevins said during the announcement (via THR). “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.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that Halo has had a series beyond the games. Three web series came before the recent announcement. All of them acted as a precedent to a game’s release.

But it is best known as a video game which was launched in 2001. Since then, it has seen four sequels and a number of spinoffs – some of which garnered sequels of their own.

Killen’s credits include Lone Star and Awake, both short-lived TV series that didn’t survived long enought to see its full potential. So let’s just hope that Killen’s rep for that ends with Halo.

As for the series itself, it will take place in the same universe as the 2001 game. According to THR, Showtime will dramatize an epic 26th century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.

This has been a long-time waited project for fans of the series who had hoped a film adaptation would happen. No doubt the show will be an expensive one as it is setting itself up to be a major competition to HBO series like Game of Thrones and Westworld. We’ll keep you up to date on any new developments when they come in.

[Source: THR]