Halo was supposed to popularize Xbox as a place for original scripting. Instead, the adaptation of the popular video game helps establish another digital platform, Paramount+. According to the Paramount streamer, Halo set a new record as the service’s most-watched series premiere worldwide in the first 24 hours of release, beating the previous mark set by December’s Yellowstone prequel 1883.
As usual, no numbers were given; For reference, the record-breaking 1883 series debut on Paramount+ also drew 4.9 million viewers in a linear commercial that aired behind Yellowstone on Paramount Network. We’ll get a sense of the scope of Halo’s viewership when Nielsen’s streaming rankings come out for this week. An original from Paramount+ has yet to crack the Nielsen Top 10.
Halo, which debuted March 24, is from Xbox and was developed at Showtime before migrating to Paramount+ a year ago.
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“Bringing Halo to life as a streaming series has been one of Paramount+’s most rewarding efforts to date, and we couldn’t be more excited about the massive fan response to the series’ debut,” said Tanya Giles, Chief Programming Officer at Paramount+. “Together with our phenomenal partners at Showtime, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, we can’t wait for fans to experience more of this incredible universe.”
The series, which has already been renewed for a second season, is set in the universe that first debuted in 2001 with the launch of the first Halo game for Xbox. Halo dramatizes an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien menace known as the Covenant, and stars Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Spartan-117; Natasha McElhone as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, contradictory, and inscrutable creator of the Spartan Super Soldiers; and Jen Taylor as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history and possibly the key to human survival.
Halo is produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries along with Amblin Television. The first season is produced by Steven Kane along with 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 the ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.