Master Chief Will Have a Huge Role In Showtime’s Halo Series

So you probably heard the news a while back that Showtime was finally hard at work on a new series based on the best-selling Halo franchise. But some fans were curious if the new show would feature the heroic Master Chief at all, considering that details weren't revealed on it just yet.

Well, rest at ease, soldiers. It appears that Master Chief will be reporting for duty and playing a big part in the series. According to this report from IGN, it was revealed during today's panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour by Showtime that the hero will be featured in the series.

Showtime President of Programming Gary Levine confirmed that Chief will be a "lead character" in the series, which is set to premiere sometime in 2020.

On top of that, Showtime president and CEO David Nevins had a lot to say about the forthcoming series. "It is a very different genre, it's futuristic, space-based science fiction, it's not fantasy," Nevins explained. "It took us a long time to get the script but we felt like we had something that was really interesting and felt like it belonged on Showtime in terms of its character depth, and it's gonna be a big show."

Levine chimed in, "We made a conscious decision to hire a writer not known for sci-fi and not known for big battle movies, because that's already baked into the Halo franchise and we will service that, but we also wanted to ensure that we were getting beneath the formidable armor of the Spartans and really getting inside the team drama so it felt like it belonged on Showtime. As David said, our hopes and dreams are that it will have enormous appeal to Halo fans and will also appeal to Showtime drama fans."

More details are just coming out of the conference, but we know a few fans who will be thrilled at Master Chief's presence. Now, who will play him? Will an actor be inside the suit with the game's original voice actor? Or could Showtime be pursuing someone else to fill the role? We'll find out soon enough.

(Kudos to IGN for the scoop!)