The bumpy road to a live-action Halo adaptation just got even bumpier. Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt is stepping down as a director and executive producer on Showtimes upcoming live-action Halo series from showrunner Kyle Killen (Awake).
“Showtime’s adaptation of Halo is evolving beautifully with rich characters, compelling stories and powerful scripts,” said Gary Levine, Showtime Networks President of Programming in a statement. “Obviously, the production demands of this series are enormous, and we have had to add time to the schedule in order to do it right. Sadly, this delay has created a conflict for Rupert, whom we warmly thank for all he has brought to the project.”
“It’s with great disappointment that changes to the production schedule of Halo prevent me from continuing in my role as a director on the series,” said Wyatt. “My time on Halo has been a creatively rich and rewarding experience with a phenomenal team of people. I now join the legion of fans out there, excited to see the finished series and wishing everyone involved the very best.”
This is the latest hurdle in a long, long ongoing production process for a big-budget live-action Halo adaptation. Back in 2006, Peter Jackson recruited Neil Blomkamp to direct, but the project fell appart and the duo turned their attentions to District 9 instead. In 2014, Showtime ordered a live-action series with Steven Spielberg attached to executive produce, but that project fell by the wayside as well. Xbox eventually created a live-action digital series of its own starring Mike Colter and executive produced by Ridley Scott, and back in June, Showtime announced a new iteration of their series was in the works from from Microsoft/343 Industries and Spielberg’s Amblin Television.
Per Deadline, the Halo series has been casting and will now focus on finding a new director. Per Showtime's initial announcement the project is a "richly imagined" series that follows “epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant.” Production was initially scheduled to begin in early 2019.
