‘Halo’ TV Series Still Alive, Says Xbox Boss and Microsoft

A live-action Halo series or movie feels like one of those properties in development long enough to be written off, but the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division doesn’t appear to agree. Long after Showtime and Steven Spielberg were said to be involved, a Halo TV series is apparently still in the cards.

Take this with a grain of salt for the moment, but a recent Twitter Q&A saw Head of Xbox Phil Spencer offering a curt update to the possibility of a live-action Halo series, simply declaring it “alive.”

On its own, that may not seem like much, but it would follow July 2016 reports of 343 Industries confirming active development, as well as Elan Lee of Microsoft Entertainment Studios saying:

The basic problem before us, or the job description as I see it, is that Microsoft is going to build an interactive TV studio. We’re in the process of building that. It’s exciting, because right now, all these people have incredible hardware plugged into their televisions. They have controllers in their hands. They have synchronization software for their phones. They have gesture and voice recognition; all this stuff that makes you feels like you’re part of a deeper narrative.

Last we heard (and mind you, this was 2014), Microsoft’s proposed live-action Halo TV series was to be executive produced by Steven Spielberg, and likely debut in fall 2015 to complement the released of the gaming’ series fifth installment, Guardians. Showtime was also supposedly nearing a deal with Microsoft that would see episodes of the series airing on the premium cable network first before moving to Xbox, while showrunner negotiations sought to follow an expansive bible developed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie.

There’s no telling how and when a Halo series might finally get going, but will it have been worth the wait?