Exclusive: ‘Halo’ Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill On Shabana Azmi’s Casting, Gender Bias In Gaming Industry And More

Kiki: We started, as we always do, from a place of canon. We have huge mythology, a lot of stories, descriptions and characters that we express in the books that we don’t necessarily see in the games. But what we did was, we started from a place of canon and the non-negotiables with that were essentially the fundamental themes of Halo. These themes thread through how the gaming experience makes you feel and how reading the books makes you feel. So as a guiding philosophy, the experience of Halo needed to be preserved. And so it really boiled down to those themes of hope and heroism—you know, the idea that there’s a hero inside all of us—and even humanity.  Humanity is at stake in the Halo Universe, but there’s always also the theme of humanity being something worth saving.

And then, there’s just the wonder and awe of sci-fi, and what more incredible way to express that than through these nine hours of live-action television. We took these non-negotiables to the spirit of the characters and objects. What are the attributes? Whether they are emotional or physical that made that thing special to somebody who already knows Halo. So that always had to be preserved.

But where we did start to take some liberties as we got into the story and into developing the story and the characters might be the nature of an event. You may see it differently. The context of it may be different than you may have experienced in the games and so it will feel very new. But really the guiding principle always was, “Does it make the story better? Does it add meaning to a character arc?” And if so, then that’s a conversation we could have. And if we decided to change something, it was very much about how do we make sure it still feels like Halo if we’re going to make this change?

 

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Q: Shabana Azmi spoke about the colour-blind casting of the show. Can you tell us more about casting her as Admiral Margaret Parangosky?

Q: You belong to fields that have had rampant gender bias for years now. Have you noticed a shift for the better? Do you see the gender-blind trend catching on in the future?

Kiki: I do see things changing for the better. I will say we have quite a ways to go, but I do see things changing in this virtual circle. And I’ll come at it from the context of gaming first, where the more diversity you have in making games, the more diversity you have represented in the game, and the more included diverse gamers feel. And I think for a long time, game development didn’t feel like a space that inclusive. It didn’t feel like a place where, you know, a woman felt she could come in and thrive. I think that’s been the big change.

 

 

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Early on, and I could talk about this forever, it was all, “Oh, how do we just hire more women?” That actually isn’t it. It was about, one, how to get more women excited about getting into making games and, two, how do you make the industry a place where they can really thrive? So it’s not just about getting women or more diverse candidates in the doors. It’s about how do you make it a place that feels good to be so that they can actually build their careers there. And I see all of that getting better.

I also believe the more we see games that are sort of a little bit out of the mould and feel more inclusive, the more audiences are going to recognize that that may be a career path for them.

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According to the official synopsis, Halo, the series from Paramount+ is a “dramatizing of an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, and will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.” The story primarily revolves around a genetically engineered super-soldier Master Chief John-117 played by Pablo Schreiber and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana, voiced by Jen Taylor who reprises her role from the video game series. Halo the series also stars Natascha McElhone, Yerin Ha, Bokeem Woodbine, Jen Taylor, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac, Kate Kennedy, Danny Sapani, Olive Gray and Charlie Murphy. It’s all set to release on March 24 and can be watched in India on Voot Select.

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