Paramount+ today announced that the highly anticipated second season of the hit original series HALO has begun production in Iceland, with additional filming to take place in Budapest, Hungary, later this year. Additionally, it was announced that Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries,” “The Originals”) and Cristina Rodlo (“No One Gets Out of Here Alive,” “The Homeless World Cup”) will join as new series regulars, while cast members Fiona O’Shaughnessy (Laera) and Tylan Bailey (Kessler) return as series regulars for season two.
Morgan joins the series as James Ackerson, a formidable intelligence operative who has spent his career climbing the ranks of the UNSC’s secretive Office of Naval Intelligence. Rodlo is Talia Perez, a corporal specializing in linguistics for a UNSC Marine Corp communications unit and a relatively new recruit who has yet to see any real combat.
Returning from season one, Laera (O’Shaughnessy) is Soren’s confidant, wife and partner in crime. Soren and Laera’s son, Kessler (Bailey), has had a relatively peaceful, if unusual, childhood growing up on the Rubble.
Led by showrunner and executive producer David Wiener (“Brave New World”), the series takes place in the universe that first debuted in 2001 with the launch of Xbox®’s first “Halo” game. Dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, HALO the series weaves deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
HALO stars Pablo Schreiber (“American Gods”) as Master Chief, Spartan-117 and Natascha McElhone (“Californication”) as Dr. Halsey, both of whom also serve as producers this season. Additional returning cast members include Jen Taylor (“Halo” game series, RWBY) as Cortana, Bokeem Woodbine (“Fargo”), Shabana Azmi (“Fire”), Natasha Culzac (“The Witcher”), Olive Gray (“Half Moon Investigations”), Yerin Ha (“Reef Break”), Bentley Kalu (“Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Kate Kennedy (“Catastrophe”), Charlie Murphy (“Peaky Blinders”) and Danny Sapani (“Penny Dreadful”).
HALO is produced by SHOWTIME® in association with 343 Industries and Amblin Television. The second season of HALO is executive produced by David Wiener, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television. Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross serve as executive producers for 343 Industries, with Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture. The series is distributed internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution.