Halo TV series: Rupert Wyatt explains why he left the project

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Rupert Wyatt is no longer working on Halo, the TV series based on the iconic Xbox sci-fi shooting games. The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes director had been attached to executive produce and direct on the show, but he stepped off the project in December last year. Now we know more about why he left…

Wyatt has now offered this new quote, in an interview with Collider, on the topic of why he left the show:

“I got involved, I knew very little about Halo—same as I knew very little about Planet of the Apes when I got involved—and I kind of steeped myself in the mythology and began to realize how much incredible literature there was and the depth of the storytelling, and it all stacked up for me. There was an incredible foundation for the storytelling, so it was gangbusters. I was super excited. In short, I think if I had come at it from an earlier perspective from the building of it then perhaps it would have gone differently, but as a director of a TV show it’s quite hard to sort of become a creative architect of a show. I think in a way I was never gonna be that, and that’s fine because there are really many talented people involved in that show who are doing that job.”

Apparently, it became clear that Wyatt would have had to work on the project for quite a long time, if he had stayed attached. And because he wouldn’t have been the “architect” or key decision maker of the show, this long-term commitment didn’t feel ideal. He added this:

“So it became clear that there was gonna be more time needed, I’m talking some months if not years, to align—as you probably know it’s massively ambitious, so the budget for that really needs to align with the scripts. We were still kind of working on that, but it ultimately wasn’t under my watch to be able to find that alignment. So there was a choice made by Showtime [the network behind the show] which was essentially to push things, and if I had been perhaps been the showrunner then I would have stayed on that journey for two or three years, but as a director of a finite number of episodes, there’s other things I really wanna do. So I was very sad to leave, but basically it wasn’t within the framework that I originally signed up for.”

Back in December, Showtime shared this statement from their programming president Gary Levine:

“Showtime’s adaptation of Halo is evolving beautifully with rich characters, compelling stories and powerful scripts. Obviously, the production demands of this series are enormous, and we have had to add time to the schedule in order to do it right. Sadly, this delay has created a conflict for Rupert, whom we warmly thank for all he has brought to the project.”

Rupert Wyatt himself said this, at the time:

“It’s with great disappointment that changes to the production schedule of Halo prevent me from continuing in my role as a director on the series. My time on Halo has been a creatively rich and rewarding experience with a phenomenal team of people. I now join the legion of fans out there, excited to see the finished series and wishing everyone involved the very best.”

The Halo TV series, which has Awake‘s Kyle Killen as its showrunner, is now searching for a new director. We’ll let you know as we hear more.

Collider