After two seasons the Halo TV series, obviously based on the iconic Halo games developed by Bungie and 343 Industries, has been cancelled.
“We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, along with showrunner and executive producer David Wiener, his fellow executive producers, the entire cast led by Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief and the amazing crew for all their outstanding work,” Paramount said. “We wish everyone the best going forward.”
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343 Industries, the current custodians of the Halo franchise on behalf of Microsoft, also issued a statement.
“We deeply appreciate the millions of fans who propelled the Halo series to be a global success, and we remain committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future,” the company said. “We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world.”
The Halo TV series has had a pretty convoluted development. None other than legendary movie director Stephen Spielberg was said to be helming a Halo TV show back in 2013. Obviously that never happened and the planned show was shelved for a while before it eventually was picked up by Showtime who ordered ten episodes in 2018. Kyle Killen was to be the showrunner with Rupert Wyatt acting as director and executive producer. Wyatt would step down in December of that year, and was replaced by Otto Bathurst. Steven Kane joined as a co-showrunner in March of 2019. The show was then moved from Showtime to Paramount+, and Killen ended up leaving prior to the start of production. Kane handled the role of showrunner until post-production work was completed, but he would not return for season 2.
Season 1 began in 2022 and the reception was quite lukewarm. It deviated heavily from the games and extended universe which led some fans disliking it while others enjoyed its alternative take on Master Chief. Season 2 was generally viewed as much stronger.
Clearly though, it doesn’t seem like season 2 did well enough to convince Paramount to continue with it. That’s a little surprising because according to Nielsen, season 2 of Halo was pulling it plenty of viewers. Neither Paramount of 343’s comments shed any light on why a season 3 won’t be going ahead. Will we ever know exactly why? Was it just too expensive? We may never get to know.
But for those of you who have enjoyed the show, there is some chance of a season 3. According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources have told them that the show’s producers are looking for another network to air the show on, and Paramount is allegedly supportive of a potential move.