Showtime’s Halo Series Casts Cortana

The Halo series headed to Showtime has found its Cortana in Natascha McElhone.

McElhone is bestr know for her role in Californication but she’lll be working double time in the Halo series, portraying not only the well-known A.I. system from the Xbox video game series but also portraying Dr. Catherine Halsey. Dr. Halsey is known as the creator of the Spartan super soldiers, along with Cortana. As fans of the game know, Cortana is crucial to the success of Spartans and, their most iconic leader, Master Chief.

The series has Pablo Schreiber set to play Master Chief. It has also added Bokeem Woodbine for the part of Soren-066, a privateer at the edge of human civilization who ultimately finds himself in a scenario which presents a conflict between his former military masters and old friend, Schreiber’s Master Chief. Schreiber is known for 13 Hours and Den of Thieves while Woodbine is known for roles in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Riddick.

“The show is introducing three characters that are new to the Halo universe: Shabana Azmi (Fire) will play Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Bentley Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron), ‘Spartan Vannak-134, a cybernetically augmented supersoldier conscripted at childhood who serves as the defacto deputy to the Master Chief,’” the report from EW reads. “Natasha Culzac (The Witcher) as ‘Spartan Riz-028 – a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine,’ and Kate Kennedy (Catastrophe) as ‘Spartan Kai-125, an all-new courageous, curious and deadly Spartan supersoldier.’”

Other casting and showrunner decisions have been revealed in the past, though the actor who would play the series’ most iconic role remained a mystery. Steven Kane who’s known for work as the executive producer for The Last Ship and The Closer was previously announced to be one of the Halo series’ showrunners. Otto Bathurst of Black Mirror fame will serve as the series’ director.

The Halo series does not yet have a release date but might begin production soon as it rounds out its cast and crew.