SHOWTIME(R) DRAMA SERIES "HALO" TO LAUNCH EXCLUSIVELY ON PARAMOUNT+

The Highly Anticipated Series Is Produced by SHOWTIME in Partnership with 343 Industries and Amblin Television

NEW YORK - February 24, 2021 - ViacomCBS announced today that the highly anticipated upcoming original drama series HALO will premiere exclusively on Paramount+. SHOWTIME is producing the series in partnership with 343 Industries and Amblin Television. Currently in production in Budapest, HALO is set to premiere on Paramount+ in early 2022. The announcement was made today by David Nevins, Chief Creative Officer, CBS & Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Showtime Networks Inc.

"From all the early glimpses we've seen, it's crystal clear that HALO is a visually stunning thrill-ride, anchored in riveting, character-driven storytelling," said Nevins. "With such tremendous appeal to every audience, we realized HALO had the potential to become a defining show for what will become the broadest streaming platform at ViacomCBS - the new Paramount+. And SHOWTIME is looking forward to continuing to produce this incredible series with 343 and Amblin for Paramount+."

"It has been a remarkable journey to bring the HALO universe to television, and we are thrilled to continue our partnership with SHOWTIME and to introduce our characters and epic worlds to the Paramount+ platform," said Bonnie Ross, Corporate Vice President and Studio Head of 343 Industries. "Paramount+ has an ambitious vision for its future which makes it the perfect home for HALO and our breadth of fans."

"All of us at Amblin feel so privileged to work on a property as epic and iconic as HALO. Our partnership with Bonnie, Kiki and Frank at 343, and David, Gary (Levine), Jana (Winograde) and their teams at SHOWTIME has been an incredible collaboration with impressive results thus far. The passion and enthusiasm of the Paramount+ team for our show is obvious, and they are not only a perfect streaming partner for HALO, but a group as dedicated as we are to preserving and furthering the legacy of this universe," said Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, co-Presidents Amblin Television.

Based on the iconic Xbox(R) franchise, Halo's epic universe and cast of characters comes to life in this new original drama series. Halo reinvented how people think about video games and has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon, having sold more than 81 million copies worldwide. In the new television series adaptation, HALO will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. HALO will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.

The series stars Pablo Schreiber (American Gods) as Master Chief Spartan John-117, Natascha McElhone (CALIFORNICATION) as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers, and Jen Taylor (Halo Game Series, RWBY) as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race. Additional stars include 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 executive produced by Steven Kane (The Last Ship). HALO is also executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, director 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 will be distributed globally by CBS Studios International.

About Paramount+

ViacomCBS' existing subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, CBS All Access, will be rebranded as Paramount+ on March 4, 2021 as part of the service's expansion to feature content from ViacomCBS' leading portfolio of broadcast, news, sports and entertainment brands. ViacomCBS will also bring Paramount+ to international markets with an initial debut in Australia, Latin America and the Nordics in 2021.

About SHOWTIME

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc., owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) and FLIX(R), and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND(R), and the network's authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME(R). Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME(R). SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS, and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Amazon, Apple(R), Google, LG Smart TVs, Oculus Go, Roku(R), Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox One and PlayStation(R)4. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Amazon's Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Viewers can also watch on computers at Showtime.com. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV(R). For more information, go to www.SHO.com.

About Amblin Television

Amblin Television, a long-time leader in quality programming, is a division of Amblin Partners, a content creation company led by Steven Spielberg. Amblin Television's co-presidents, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, oversee all development, production and programming for the company. Amblin Television currently has nine projects in various stages of production and release, including Resident Alien for SYFY, the second season of Animaniacs for Hulu, The Haunting of Bly Manor for Netflix, third and fourth seasons of Roswell, New Mexico for The CW, Halo for Paramount+, Masters of the Air for Apple, two seasons of Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai for HBO Max, Tiny Toons Looniversity for HBO Max and Cartoon Network, and an untitled Goonies Re-enactment Project pilot for Fox. Some of Amblin Television's recent credits include the Emmy Award-winning series Why We Hate for Discovery, three-time Emmy nominated Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time for EPIX, and Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind for HBO which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival last year. Amblin Television also produced the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning drama The Americans for FX, the Golden Globe-nominated and double Emmy Award-winning mini-series Into the West for TNT, the Emmy-nominated HBO movie All The Way starring Bryan Cranston, Smash for NBC, Under the Dome for CBS, Falling Skies for TNT, The Borgias and The United States of Tara for Showtime, and Las Vegas for NBC. http://www.amblin.com