Steven Spielberg's Halo Series Is Still Very Much in Development at Showtime

It's been a while since we've heard a peep about the Halo series from Steven Spielberg that's been in the works since well after the release of Halo 4 -- that's more than four-and-a-half years ago for those of you who have never felt the joy of loading a Covenant Elite with Needler quills. But the silence doesn't mean the ambitious project with Halo gamemaker 343 Studios is dead, as the series is still making its way to television (hopefully with Master Chief in tow).

At the Television Critics Association winter press tour, TV Guide asked Showtime bosses whether we're still getting a live-action television series based on one of the biggest videogame franchises.

"[It's] still in very active development," Showtime President and CEO David Nevins said. Nevins wouldn't comment further, but he did say he's seen scripts.

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Gary Levine, president of programming at Showtime, told TV Guide that Halo "is absolutely still in development, still moving forward and I'm encouraged by what we've seen so far." Levine could not give a timeframe about when we could see it or place the series in the franchise's complicated lore, but added, "It's still live action, and it will definitely satisfy the fans of Halo and I think also satisfy the drama audiences of Showtime."

The Halo TV series was first announced in 2013. A live-action web series called Halo: Forward Unto Dawn gave fans a peek at what a Halo TV series could look like back in 2012, and the digital feature Halo: Nightfall starring Luke Cage's Mike Colter was released in 2014. As of 2015, the Halo Xbox games have sold more than 65 million copies and grossed nearly $3.4 billion for Microsoft.