Halo Is Already Getting Its Third Showrunner Before Season 1 Premieres
Ask any longtime "Halo" fan and they could tell you that the Master Chief's greatest foes to date include the unstoppable Covenant threat, the enigmatic Forerunners, those incredibly bothersome Flood ... and, apparently, creative consistency behind the scenes?
Much like the rocky road that led to this property finally making its live-action debut after years of languishing in production purgatory, the "Halo" series itself has also undergone its fair share of shakeups and sudden change. Back in March of 2019, we previously covered the news that a second showrunner, Steven Kane, would join original showrunner Kyle Killen to help bring the show across the finish line for its first season. Now, it looks like a third showrunner will be asked to replace the previous two in the event that "Halo" is greenlit for more adventures down the line. Read on for all the details!
"Fits and Starts"
This latest "Halo" news, which arrives soon after the recent release of the full trailer, comes from THR, who carefully note that the series hasn't, in fact, been given the go-ahead for a second season just yet. But while talking to reporters at today's Television Critics Association event, executive producer Justin Falvey broke the news that David Wiener would take over as showrunner for the series in the event that deals are struck for a second season. Wiener comes with plenty of television cred, having executive produced and written for shows such as "Fear the Walking Dead," "Homecoming," and "Brave New World" (which he also created). While addressing the creative turnover, executive producer Kiki Wolfkill from 343 Studios summed it up as succinctly as possible:
"We went through a number of fits and starts. A lot of it was getting the right team together...it was a challenge to bring this to life in an authentic way. We tried some different things and failed fast and moved to the next thing."
The frankness of announcing this news in comments to reporters might seem like a somewhat unfair position to put both Steven Kane and Kyle Killen in, but their departures from the series became official back in June of 2021. Kane took charge of "physical production" in Budapest for two whole years during production of this season, while Killen served as supervisor over writing and production stateside. Kane, according to the report, will remain attached to the production in some capacity as a consultant – assuming, of course, that the series moves forward with another season.
As for the prospects of future seasons, Falvey struck an optimistic tone: "Talk about world building – it's literally the whole universe, so we have a lot of buckets we can explore. Hopefully we'll be doing this for some time."
"Halo" will premiere on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022.