Halo TV series marks the beginning of production with a cast photo

News
By published

Three new characters, including Jacob and Miranda Keyes, were also revealed today.

(Image credit: 343 Industries)

The Witcher isn't the only big videogame headed to the small screen. A Halo series, headed up by this guy, is also in the works and headed to Showtime. It's been a slow and heavy grind—the show was announced in 2013 but then landed in development hell for five years, until the wheels started to turn meaningfully in 2018.

A trio of new cast members were also revealed today by Variety. Danny Sapani, whose previous television credits include Harlots, MotherFatherSon, and The Bastard Executioner, will portray Jacob Keyes, captain of the Pillar of Autumn in Halo: Combat Evolved; Olive Gray, who has appeared in Dark Mon£y, Home From Home, Year Million, and Eastenders, will play his daughter, Miranda Keyes, a supporting character in Halo 2 and 3; and Charlie Murphy, of Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley, and Love/Hate fame, will play Makee, an orphaned human raised by the Covenant who shares its contempt for humanity. (And also, I'm pretty sure, a character created exclusively for the series.)

(All three actors have appeared almost or entirely exclusively on British television, by the way, although Sapani has had small roles in films including The Last Jedi and Black Panther, so apologies to UK readers if I'm off-base on any of the "best known for" credits.)

Showtime's Halo series is expected to debut in 2021. There's still no Halo page on the Showtime website, but you can keep up with all we know about it right here.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.