PARAMOUNT+ ANNOUNCES "HALO" SEASON TWO START OF PRODUCTION

Joseph Morgan and Cristina Rodlo Join Cast as Series Regulars; Season One Cast Members Fiona O'Shaughnessy and Tylan Bailey Return as Series Regulars

Sept. 14, 2022 - 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(R)'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(R) 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.

About Paramount+

Paramount+ combines live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment. The premium streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel. The service is also the streaming home to unmatched sports programming, including every CBS Sports event, from golf to football to basketball and more, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world's biggest and most popular soccer leagues. Paramount+ also enables subscribers to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. in addition to the ability to stream other live channels: CBSN for 24/7 news, CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis. For more information about Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com and follow @ParamountPlus and on social platforms.

About SHOWTIME

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount, owns and operates the premium service SHOWTIME(R), which features critically acclaimed original series, provocative documentaries, box-office hit films, comedy and music specials and hard-hitting sports. SHOWTIME is available as a stand-alone streaming service across all major streaming devices and Showtime.com, as well as via cable, DBS, telco and streaming video providers. SNI also operates the premium services THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) and FLIX(R), as well as on demand versions of all three brands. 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 Presidents, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, oversee all development, production and programming for the company. Amblin Television currently has twelve projects in various stages of production and release including season two of "Resident Alien'' for SYFY, "Halo" and "Fatal Attraction" for Paramount+, "Billy the Kid" for Epix, "Masters of the Air" for Apple, a third season of "Animaniacs" for Hulu, season four of "Roswell, New Mexico" for The CW, two seasons of "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" for HBO Max, two seasons of "Tiny Toons Looniversity" for HBO Max and Cartoon Network, and documentaries "Big Vape" for Netflix, "Good Night Oppy" for Amazon Prime Video, and "Mama's Boy" an adaptation of Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black's autobiography. Amblin Television also produced the Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning drama "The Americans" for FX, the Golden Globe-nominated and double Emmy Award-winning mini-series "Into the West" for TNT, Emmy-winning documentary series "Why We Hate" for Discovery, 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," "The United States of Tara" for Showtime, and "Las Vegas" for NBC. For more information, go to www.amblin.com.

About 343 Industries

343 Industries is the developer of the blockbuster Halo series of video games and, as part of Xbox Game Studios, oversees the Halo franchise including games, original programming, novels, comics, licensed collectibles, apparel and more. "Halo Infinite," the studio's most recent game release, has achieved critical success, receiving over 60 industry awards and is the most successful game release in Halo franchise history. The studio continues to transform entertainment experiences across the Halo universe with groundbreaking projects, such as the now streaming "Halo" television series for Paramount+, in partnership with SHOWTIME and Amblin Entertainment.