Showtime’s live-action Halo TV series is filming again, but viewers received an early peek of the universe’s weapons and cast from executive producer Kiki Wolfkill. Under the surface, a couple of details from each photo give off hints into when the Halo series will be set and what audiences could be expecting.
In a small photo gallery, a UNSC crate sits among other military containers in an unknown facility. It’s one of the small details which would tie Halo directly with source material. Specifically, the military cartridges are live action versions of ammo players could pick up for their weapons in true game tradition. The creates were also shown lying around other larger containers, though it’s either a part of the production set or bigger UNSC munitions. Another photo showed off live action battle rifles, first introduced in Halo 2 and will be featured as a standard weapon for human characters across the series. It’s a prop which was first introduced in another first crack at live-action Halo with Neil Blomkamp in 2007. To promote Halo 3, the director known for District 9 was tasked with creating three short films detailing Master Chief’s return to Earth (and tracking him for Sgt. Johnson). The battle rifles would unsurprisingly be shown alongside other unique weapons which set Halo‘s intergalactic conflicts a struggle for humans, covenant and the brutes.
It’s worth noting the set photos included an alien arm literally under wraps, suggesting any live action elites, grunts and jackals will be getting practical effects. Like Star Wars and The Muppets, the Halo series will likely use a blend of CGI over life-sized recreations of enemies. The arm in question features four fingers, ruling out elites as a puppet. Brutes were first shown in the same set of short films by Blomkamp, with infantry and a giant chieftain suit being used against some poor ODST troops. But in its live-action cast, Halo will be seeing Jen Taylor coming back as AI Cortana.
Depending on the timeline, it’s unknown if Cortana has been matched with the Master Chief. If so, it also means a MJOLNIR suit is hiding somewhere in the show’s set and viewers could see the iconic SPARTAN alongside a new and familiar cast. Cortana’s appearance also ties the show directly into Halo canon, but her rampancy defection in Halo 5 Guardians could complicate things with UNSC forces. Of course, she was last seen attempting to trap Master Chief and Blue Team in a forerunner prison until Fireteam Osiris recovered them. It’s still unknown if the Halo series would be showing events after the game, but the old-school battle rifles suggest it would be featuring scenes in the Halo 2 or Halo 3 era.
The containers, arm, munitions and Cortana are only showing off Halo from a human perspective while it’s likely audiences would see scenes from all alien factions. Until an official trailer is shown, audiences can only wait for more updates and a first look at Halo‘s next live action series in 2021. But audiences can also scratch their itch with a few of the franchise’s live action media with its game trailers, Neil Blomkamp’s Halo 3 films, Halo Nightfall featuring Luke Cage actor Mike Coulter and the longer Halo Forward Unto Dawn series. Currently, the series is on its way towards Halo Infinite for 2021 along with a growing list of books, comics and media which cemented the first person shooter into a franchise.
