Kiki Wolfkill

Halo executive producer Kiki Wolfkill has ambitious plans for the future of the acclaimed blockbuster sci-fi series. She wants to "transform" the way people experience the franchise, Wolfkill says in a new profile featured on Microsoft's website.

"Our next step is to try and make the connections between the game and its linear entertainment aspects even more experiential," Wolfkill said. "I want to transform how people experience Halo in their living rooms and on their PCs."

One of the ways Microsoft is already doing this is through Ridley Scott's live-action series Halo: Nightfall, which we finally got a look at during Comic-Con over the weekend. Another Halo TV series, produced by celebrated film veteran Steven Spielberg, is also in the works. If Microsoft is to move beyond Halo TV shows and into a new medium, like potentially film, you can be sure that the content will add value to the overall narrative, Wolfkill says.

"We will never do anything that doesn't move the [Halo] universe forward," Wolfkill said. "We won't do something for the sake of being in a certain medium."

Halo: Nightfall and Spielberg's upcoming Halo TV series actually represent the second and third live-action adaptations of the Halo franchise, following 2012's Halo: Forward Unto Dawn, which was released across multiple episodes alongside Halo 4.

Earlier this month, Microsoft made the surprise announcement that it was shutting down Xbox Entertainment Studios, its nascent transmedia group dedicated to bringing original content to the Xbox platform. Halo: Nightfall and Spielberg's Halo show--as well as the upcoming Quantum Break program--are unaffected by Xbox Entertainment Studios' closure, which was announced on the same day that Microsoft revealed that it was cutting as many as 18,000 jobs across the company.

The next original Halo game is 2015's Halo 5: Guardians for Xbox One. You won't have to wait until next year to play the game, however, as a beta for the title will kick off later this year. Access to the pre-release play period is included with copies of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One. Halo: Nightfall will debut later this year alongside the Master Chief Collection.