The long-awaited Halo TV series is finally ready to go into battle – just with a little less artillery than originally planned.

The video game adaptation has been in the works in various stages dating all the way back to 2013, but got the push it needed when US premium channel Showtime commissioned a 10-episode series last summer.

At that time, Rise of the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Rupert Wyatt was on board to direct multiple episodes of a concept by Awake writer Kyle Killen. Since then, Wyatt has dropped out.

On Thursday (February 21), Showtime confirmed it would start production on Halo later this year with British TV vet Otto Bathurst stepping in to direct multiple episodes. Bathurst's impressive CV includes Peaky Blinders, Hustle and Black Mirror's infamous 'The National Anthem' (aka the pig one).

The only downside is there will be a bit less of the Halo show than originally planned. According to a network press release, Showtime has cut the episode count from 10 down to 9 in total.

@Halo Twitter

The Halo show is expected to exist within the world adjacent to the hugely-successful video game series, centring on "an epic 26th-century conflict" between humanity and an alien species called the Covenant.

It has also been confirmed that the franchise's Master Chief will be a "leading character" in the TV series as a way to pay homage to the gaming continuity.

Showtime has previously promised that Halo will be its "most ambitious series ever" — and that's coming from the network that made Homeland, Twin Peaks: The Return and Penny Dreadful, to name only a few.

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