Six More Join Master Chief In Showtime’s Halo

Master Chief won’t be quite so lonely now that Showtime has added six more to the cast of their upcoming Halo TV series. According to Deadline, Natascha Mcelhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culza and Kate Kennedy have all signed on for the project, joining Pablo Schreiber’s masked hero. Schreiber was confirmed as Master Chief back in April, but Showtime is keeping details about the mysterious lead’s visage close to the vest.

What’s not secret? McElhone’s role in the series. She is set to play two different characters. The first is Dr. Catherine Halsey, described as a “brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan supersoldiers.” That character made her debut in Halo: Reach back in 2010. McElhone will also play Cortana, the most advanced AI ever created and one that could save humanity. Cortana has been a part of the Halo mythos since the franchise’s launch.

Woodbine will play Soren-066, described as “a morally complex privateer at the fringes of human civilization whose fate will bring him into conflict with his former military masters and his old friend, the Master Chief.” Azmi, meanwhile, will play Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The other three will play characters created just for this series. Kalu will play Spartan Vannak-134, “a cybernetically augmented supersoldier conscripted at childhood who serves as the defacto deputy to the Master Chief.”

Culzac plays Spartan Riz-028, “a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine.”

Finally, Kennedy will play “Spartan Kai-125, an all-new courageous, curious and deadly Spartan supersoldier.”

The only other member of the cast was the previously announced Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, another new character. The series is executive produced by Steven Kane, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, director Otto Bathurst, Toby Leslie, KYle Killen and Scott Pennington.