'Halo' TV casts Natascha McElhone as Cortana

This newest adaptation of Halo as a TV series will be including Windows' own Cortana AI. Natascha McElhone will be playing the AI as well as Dr. Catherine Halsey, who created the Spartan super-soldiers like Master Chief. It was announced back in April that American Gods' Pablo Schreiber will be taking on the role of Master Chief. Other cast members include Fargo's Bookem Woodbine as Soren-066 and Shabana Azmi as Office of Naval Intelligence head Admiral Margaret Parangosky.

Showtime's Halo won't go into production until later this year, and it's expected to go to air sometime within the first quarter of 2021. The series follows the game series' story of the war between humanity and the Covenant, an alliance of alien races bound by religious zealotry.

Source: Windows Central

Apple reportedly talking to HBO, Showtime, and Starz for its upcoming video service

Embed from Getty Images

Ahead of the company’s March 25^th event for the rumoured video subscription service, Apple is reportedly in talks with HBO, Showtime, and Starz to provide content. The company’s own original programming is reportedly not far along enough to be ready when the service launches. And that’s why it needs partners to provide content for its service. These three aforementioned networks are reportedly still negotiating over things like user experience and marketing, but a deal might be reached with some of them by Friday. Netflix and Hulu were reportedly in talks with Apple before but neither wanted anything to do with the service.

Bloomberg’s report suggests the service will live inside the Apple TV app for iOS and Apple TV, but it isn’t clear yet what this is going to look like or how it’ll affect non-subscribers who have Apple TV. We’re set to find out answers to these questions soon. We’re also geared to hear more about Apple’s new magazine subscription service. It’s being reported that these two will be separate subscriptions but there might be bundles to entice users to get both. The magazine subscription service is expected to be part of the Apple News app.

Source: The Verge