The first Halo TV show trailer for the upcoming adaptation on Paramount+ reveals live-action Master Chief. The Halo series will star Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Halsey, Yerin Ha as Quan Ah, Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, Danny Sapani as Captain Jacob Keyes, Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134, Kate Kennedy as Kai-125, Olive Gray as Dr. Miranda Keyes, Charlie Murphy as Makee, Natasha Culzac as Riz-028, Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, and Jen Taylor as Cortana. The series is created and written by Steven Kane (The Last Ship) and Kyle Killen (Awake).
The Halo franchise is a globally successful video game series from Bungie and published on Xbox, spanning a number of games and spinoffs that have sold over 82 million copies and raked in more than $6 billion in revenue. The series focuses on a war between humanity and an alien race called The Covenant, set in the 26th Century. Master Chief John-117 is the most prominent of the UNSC Spartan-II enhanced supersoldiers that defend humanity during this time, leading the fight to destroy the Halo Array superstructures that threaten their existence in the galaxy.
Today, Paramount+ has dropped the first Halo teaser trailer, which gives viewers their first look at the live-action Master Chief. The footage displays the character, as played by Schreiber, with scars on his back, then in full combat uniform, sporting the "117" designation on his Spartan suit. The only dialogue heard is what sounds like Cortana saying, "Hello, Master Chief" as the reveal of his helmet is seen, then played out to the familiar choral Halo theme. The nine-episode series is set to debut sometime in 2022 on Paramount+. Take a look at the teaser trailer below:
Schreiber, brother to Ray Donovan actor Liev Schreiber, has a long history of TV and film work, getting an early start in HBO's The Wire and appearing in projects like Michael Bay's 13 Hours, Den of Thieves with Gerard Butler, and Skyscraper with Dwayne Johnson. He's best known for his work on American Gods as Mad Sweeney, as well as his work on Netflix's Orange is the New Black as "Pornstache." Schreiber most recently appeared in the Apple mini-series Defending Jacob with Chris Evans and as astronaut Jim Lovell in First Man alongside Ryan Gosling.
Halo has had many attempts at a live-action adaptation, with an early bidding war on the project taking place in 2005 with Neil Blomkamp set to direct, a deal that fell apart and never came to fruition and many rumblings over the years about it starting up again. The franchise flourished in other mediums, from comics to books to animation and, of course, video games, but live-action has been a tough one to crack. Movie studios and video game companies have notoriously butted heads over big franchise game adaptations, but it appears that this new one may finally give it a solid run if fans respond to it. If not, there's always another game, as Halo: Infinite, the next chapter in the video game series, is set to drop next month.
Halo premieres in 2022 on Paramount+.
Source: Paramount+