The long-in-development Halo TV show has a new director. Recent reports indicate that Microsoft and Showtime’s Halo series will be directed and executive produced by Otto Bathurst. Production is set to begin later in 2019.
Showtime announced that Bathurst will direct and produce the Halo TV show earlier today. Bathurst is joining the project after the previous director Rupert Wyatt left in December 2018. He directed 2018’s Robin Hood starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx, and directed several episodes of the first season of drama series Peaky Blinders. Bathurst joins Kyle Killen as executive producers and writers on the series.
The Halo TV show was officially picked up by Showtime in June 2018 and is set to start production later in 2019. It is currently slated for a nine-episode run, with Bathurst directing several episodes. When the Showtime series was announced each episode was set to be one hour long in the first season.
Showtime’s Halo TV show will be a new story penned specifically for the series and will feature Master Chief in a supporting or cameo role. The people writing the show were hired because Microsoft and Showtime want to explore the “human drama” of the Halo universe.
The series is now set to air sometime in 2020, following years of pre-production setbacks and development halts. Microsoft originally announced the project in 2013 with Steven Spielberg set to executive produce the show. Spielberg left the project in the intervening years, with Neill Blomkamp also being attached to the Halo TV show for some time.
Production was set to begin in early 2018 with Kyle Killen and Rupert Wyatt at the helm. The loss of Wyatt in 2018 pushed production to late 2019, but Killen remains on the project. Halo developer 343 Industries is co-developing the story and characters to ensure the TV show remains faithful to the Halo universe. The show was said to be available to users of the Halo Channel application on Xbox One and Windows.
