The Showtime television series based off the blockbuster video game franchise Halo had to recast Cortana. Originally cast for the role, actress Natascha McElhone (Ronin, Designated Survivor) ran into scheduling conflicts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cortana’s a snarky holographic Artificail intelligence that acts as a sidekick of sorts for the Master Chief.
According to a recent report from IGN, the production team cast Jen Taylor as the new voice of Cortana for the series. Taylor’s voiced the character in every main Halo game to date.
This means that gamers will hear an all-too-familiar voice when the series hits the network. Originally, McElhone was cast as both the voice of Cortana and her creator Dr. Catherine Halsey.
McElhone cannot fulfill her obligation to finish shooting her parts for Cortana, but still play Halsey in the series. The role of Halsey’s a bit less-intense, as the good doctor serves a larger role in the franchise, but not necessarily right away.
It’s not clear whether Taylor will shoot motion capture, or just lend her voice talents to the series.
Taylor’s not only featured in the game franchise, but shot 2 live-action Halo shorts, along with serving as Microsoft’s virtual assistant for Windows.
Halo‘s a first-person shooter for the Microsoft Xbox and PC. The first game launched in 2001 and changed the gaming landscape.
This made the Xbox a gaming console juggernaut. the game sold over 70 million copies to-date, and lifetime sales for the franchise passed $5 billion.
The game cost over $100 million to produce, making it the most-expensive game to produce.
The game started out as the brainchild of Bungie game studio, but sold to Microsoft just before the release fo Halo: Reach. 343 Industries produces the games for Microsoft.
Showtime’s Halo series premieres sometime in 2021.
