Showtime and 343 Industries have big ambitions for the upcoming Halo TV series. How big? Well, they basically want the show to be the next Game of Thrones. According to 343 Industries transmedia boss Kiki Wolfkill, the upcoming Halo TV adaptation will be similar to the HBO series in terms of scope and scale, and will also replicate its complexity of relationships. Further, like Game of Thrones, Halo is steeped in politics, and you’ll see this manifest in the show.
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“It’s hard to find an analogue. We talk about Game of Thrones a lot in terms of scope and scale and complexity of relationships,” said Wolfkill in a new episode of The AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast with Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price.
“A lot of the background of Halo is this sort of political drama. It’s something that [is touched on] really lightly in the games and you see more of in some of the other mediums. Some of that [Game of Thrones] complexity is interesting.”
That said, one thing the series won’t be borrowing from Game of Thrones is all the incest. Wolfkill confirmed there will be no incest, at all, noting that if that’s your thing, this won’t be your fix.
Elsewhere in the interview, Wolfkill talked about the general narrative that video games can’t be translated to good TV or good movies, which is something she doesn’t subscribe to.
“It’s not because you can’t, it’s because it’s a really hard challenge, and everyone is still trying to figure it out,” said Wolfkill. “There isn’t something inherent in the format of video games that makes it impossible to adapt; it’s just a hard challenge. Literally day to day we are making decisions on what can change, what shouldn’t change, what we can we bend.”
As you can see, Wolfkill is well aware of the challenges of bringing a video game series to TV. She’s also aware that while 343 Industries is helping on the project, ultimately, Showtime knows what makes good TV, not the Halo studio.
“We are putting a lot of our trust in our TV partners,” said Wolfkill. “You have to be humble and recognize the expertise you’re bringing is different from the expertise that they have. “And you have to be able to take that leap of faith and trust that the things they want and are lobbying for and need are the right things. That’s probably the hardest part; that leap of faith.”
Wolfkill noted that the journey so far has been very challenging at times, which is perhaps best represented by the numerous setbacks the film has had. After all, it’s been in some form of development for five years now, and we still haven’t seen anything of it. Hopefully that will change soon.
For more news, media, and information on the upcoming show, be sure to peep all of our previous coverage of it by clicking right here.
Thanks, GameSpot.
