Halo TV Series Recasts Cortana

As Showtime’s Halo TV series returns to production this week, it appears as though a pretty substantial recasting is taking place. The live-action adaptation of the beloved video game series had initially cast Designated Survivor‘s Natascha McElhone as the helpful AI Cortana, as well as Cortana’s creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey. Unfortunately, due to the delays in production caused by the coronavirus pandemic, McElhone can’t complete her work as Cortana and the role will be recast. The silver lining, however, is that longtime Halo fans will instantly recognize the voice of McElhone’s replacement.

According to a new report from IGN, McElhone is being replaced as the voice of Cortana by actress Jen Taylor. That’s significant because it was Taylor who voiced Cortana in all of the main Halo video games. While McElhone will keep her role as Dr. Halsey, Taylor will be bringing the original Cortana voice to the live-action series.

Taylor joins an already-stellar cast that is led by Orange Is the New Black and American Gods alum Pablo Schreiber, who is set to play the role of Spartan John-117, better known as Master Chief. Halo also stars Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Bentley Kalu as Spartan Vannak-134, Natasha Culzac as Spartan Riz-028, and Kate Kennedy as Spartan Kai-125.

Production on Halo originally began back in November 2019, but it was paused a few months later as COVID-19 caused shutdowns all across the world. Earlier this week, Showtime announced that filming had resumed with a photo of Schreiber on set, donning part of Master Chief’s iconic helmet.

Schreiber also shared the photo to his personal Instagram, along with a message of excitement about the conclusion of production. “We’re baaaack,” he wrote in the post. “On set for [Halo on Showtime]. Let’s finish this fight!”

At this time, a release date for the live-action Halo series hasn’t been announced. Judging by the filming schedule, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the project arrive on TV in 2021.

Are you looking forward to the new Halo TV series? Are you glad to see the original Cortana back in action? Let us know in the comments!