Paramount said Paramount Plus’ new series Halo has become the most-watched series premiere in the streaming service's history in the U.S. and internationally.

The company did not disclose specific viewing figures.

The series is based on the popular xBox game Halo, which debuted in 2001. The game has sold 82 million copies worldwide and grossed more than $6 billion in total sales revenue.

Having a hit would give Paramount Plus a boost as it seeks to compete in the high-stakes, big-money competition among the streaming services looking to compete with Netflix.

Also: Paramount Plus Orders More ‘1883’ and New Taylor Sheridan Series ‘1932’

“Bringing Halo to life as a streaming series has been one of the most rewarding efforts for Paramount Plus to date and we could not be more thrilled at the massive fan response to the series’ debut,” said Tanya Giles, chief programming officer at Paramount Plus. “Along with our phenomenal partners at Showtime, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, we cannot wait for fans to experience more of this incredible universe.”  

The series stars Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, along with Natascha McElhone and Jen Taylor. The cast also features Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy and Danny Sapani.

Halo is produced by Showtime, in association with 343 Industries, along with Amblin Television. 

The first season of Halo is executive produced by Steven Kane, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, and Kyle Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven. Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross serve as executive producers for 343 Industries. The series is distributed internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution. ■

The return of FX's Emmy Award-winning comedy series Atlanta after a four-year hiatus tops the list of original shows debuting during the last full week of March. 

The 10-episode third season of the comedy, which stars Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz and LaKeith Stanfield, debuts March 24 and takes place in Europe as the group embarks on the musical tour for rapper Paper Boi (Henry).

Netflix's Emmy-wining drama series Bridgerton returns for its second season on March 25 without its freshman season breakout star Regé-Jean Page. The new season of the Shondaland-produced series follows Bridgerton family member Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) as he searches for a wife. Netflix has already renewed the series for a third and fourth season. 

Also premiering this week is Paramount Plus's Halo, a sci-fi series based on the popular videogame franchise that focuses on a futuristic conflict between humanity and aliens.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for multiple shows debuting the week of March 21 to March 27 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

March 22 – The Principles of Pleasure (documentary) – Netflix

March 23 – Parallels (sci-fi) – Disney Plus

March 24 – One Perfect Shot (documentary) – HBO Max

March 24 – Starstruck (comedy) HBO Max

March 24 – WWE Evil (documentary series) – Peacock

March 25 – Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (competition series) – Prime Video

March 25 – No Woman No Try (documentary) – Prime Video

March 25 – Pachinko (drama) – Apple TV Plus

March 26 – The Pact (drama) – The Roku Channel

Paramount Plus said that it has ordered more of 1883, the hit series from Taylor Sheridan, but didn’t specify how many seasons or episodes.

At the same time, Paramount Plus said it ordered 1932, which it called the next chapter in Sheridan’s Yellowstone origin story.

1932 will be produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios and follow a new generation of the Dutton family during Western expansion, Prohibition and the first Depression.

Other Sheridan series are on the way, with stars including Sylvester Stallone, Billy Bob Thornton and Zoe Saldana. 

Saldana will executive produce Paramount Plus's Lioness, about a CIA anti-terror program, along with Nicole Kidman. Production begins in June. Thornton will lead a new series, Land Man, based on the podcast series Boomtown and set to go into production next year for Paramount Plus.

Paramount Plus also ordered Season 2 of Halo, based on the XBox game. Season 1 is set to launch on March 24 exclusively on Paramount Plus.

Also: ViacomCBS Changing Company Name to Paramount

1883 has been Paramount Plus’s most watched title globally. 

“While most shows franchise near the end of their run, we seized the opportunity to franchise in real time, to drive record growth for both streaming and linear properties, proving the power of ViacomCBS’ differentiated model,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios. “With the brilliant mind and gifted storytelling of Taylor Sheridan, we have created an entirely new world to explore with 1883 while expanding Yellowstone, and with 1932 we will open up a new chapter in this rapidly growing universe.”

Created by Sheridan, 1883 is the prequel to Yellowstone and stars Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert.

Halo series stars Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, Spartan-117; Natascha McElhone as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers; and Jen Taylor as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race.

Halo is produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries, along with Amblin Television. The first season of Halo is executive produced by Steven Kane, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, and Kyle Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven. Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross serve as executive producers for 343 Industries. The series is distributed internationally by ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group. ■ 

Drama Halo, the series based on the Xbox video game that’s been in the works at Showtime, will premiere exclusively on Paramount Plus in early 2022. Showtime is producing the series along with 343 Industries and Amblin Television. 

“From all the early glimpses we’ve seen, it’s crystal clear that Halo is a visually stunning thrill-ride, anchored in riveting, character-driven storytelling,” said David Nevins, chief creative officer, CBS and chairman and CEO, Showtime Networks. “With such tremendous appeal to every audience, we realized Halo had the potential to become a defining show for what will become the broadest streaming platform at ViacomCBS – the new Paramount Plus. And Showtime is looking forward to continuing to produce this incredible series with 343 and Amblin for Paramount Plus.” 

Halo will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. The series will “weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future,” said Paramount Plus.

Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Jen Taylor and Bokeem Woodbine are in the cast. 

Paramount Plus debuts March 4.  

Halo is executive produced by Steven Kane, along with Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television, director Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, Kyle Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven and Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross for 343 Industries. 

Showtime has signed actor Pablo Schreiber to star in its new drama series Halo, the network said Wednesday.

The series, based on iconic Xbox video game franchise, will feature Schreiber (First Man, Orange Is the New Black) as Master Chief, Earth's most advanced warrior in the 26th century and the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant, an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity, according to the network

Showtime also announced it has signed actress Yerin Ha to play a new character within the HALO world.

Halo is produced by Showtime in partnership with 343 Industries, along with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, according to the network. 

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Nearly one week after his predecessor, NBC Entertainment chairman and former Showtime chief Bob Greenblatt complained during the TCA summer press tour of the advantages held by cable networks, Showtime Networks president David Nevins acknowledged enjoying an edge in certain areas over his broadcast competitors when it comes to programming.

“It’s one of the luxuries of where I sit,” Greenblatt said Friday, responding to a question during his press tour executive session about planning the end of long-running series well in advance. “You’re less buffeted by market forces [than in broadcast]. It’s less about we’re losing revenue in that time period that we could be making through higher ratings.”

On Sunday, Greenblatt said that cable networks can “go into subject matter that just feels cooler” than what broadcast can do. Nevins talked Friday about being able to experiment with portrayals of sex on shows like Masters of Sex and the upcoming The Affair.

“I think it’s really interesting that we can get into that certain side of humanity and human relationships with a depth that’s hard to do in broadcast media, because there’s such squeamishness about sex,” Nevins said. He also noted that he anticipates Showtime doing more documentary series along the lines of the recent Years of Living Dangerously. “That kind of programming, that sort of deep-dive, long series to look at something, I definitely think it’s a good form of programming for us,” Nevins said, adding, “I think it’s one of the things that we can do in pay cable, go with depth into a difficult subject that’s probably not cut out for broadcast television.”

Nevins addressed the issue of Emmy categories, and the network’s decision to submit Shameless, formerly entered in drama categories, as a comedy.

“I don’t envy the TV category trying to categorize,” Nevins said. “I think there’s always a degree of arbitrariness.” He defended the decision to move Shameless, saying producer John Wells “always wanted it to be a comedy.”

Nevins added later, when discussing miniseries and anthology series, “I think we all cry foul when True Detective takes up two best actor slots.”

Other highlights from the panel included:

*Nevins said that the status of Happyish, the comedy series that had been slated to star Philip Seymour Hoffman before the actor’s death in February, is undecided but that the project could still continue. “I’m now sitting on five scripts from [creator Shalom Auslander] that I think are brilliant,” he said. “If I can cast it the right way, it’s something I’ll probably make it. But there’s no guarantees.”

*Asked whether Microsoft’s decision to close Xbox Studios would affect plans for the Halo series, based on the videogame, that Showtime and Microsoft are partnering on, Nevins said, “I don’t think so.” He added that conversations with Microsoft around Halo “are ongoing.”

*Regarding the possibility that Showtime would invest in scripted miniseries or anthology series, as FX has done with Fargo and American Horror Story and HBO has done with True Detective, Nevins said, “I’m fundamentally focused on renewable assets where we can bring it back.” But, he added, “ I wouldn’t rule it out.”