Microsoft currently has two major entertainment productions planned in its Halo universe with Steven Spielberg’s Halo TV series and Ridley Scott’s feature, but according to a recent report by Variety, the former could debut on American cable network Showtime before it arrives on Xbox formats.

Showtime has been with Xbox Entertainment Studios to bring the show to the network and the only reason it’s been going on for so long is because of the property’s untested nature. As of now, it’s unconfirmed whether it will actually hit Showtime first since unnamed sources are claiming the same. Regardless, the series will be a major test as it looks to combine traditional TV episodes with interactive features more suited to Xbox platforms.

Though Microsoft has touted more games for E3 2014, expect to hear some news on the upcoming Halo TV Series at the company’s media briefing on June 9th. Stay tuned for more information.

Fans may want to know more information about the upcoming Halo on Xbox One, but Microsoft’s focus currently seems to be on Halo: The Television Series. While the announcement of the same didn’t quite pan out as well, Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer talked to Total Xbox about how it’s important in terms of growing the IP and familiarizing more people with the series.

“I think there’s a story in the Halo games that’s noteworthy, and that we can introduce more people to the IP by putting the franchise, stories, and characters in more accessible mediums than a first person shooter.

“That’s a good thing for Halo, a good thing for the platform, and a good thing for the IP owners. We did this last holiday with Forward Unto Dawn, which had something like 70 million views. I think it helped us with the launch of Halo 4, but it also was just a thing people liked to watch.”

“I think it helped growing what IP is capable of and getting people to understand the stories and characters. I also think going into the launch of any game, it’s a nice tie-in; we learned that with Forward Unto Dawn where you can get people upbeat and excited about the IP and bring it as part of your overall launch momentum.

Spencer is also adamant that it’s not filler and will be handled the right way.”I definitely don’t think of it as filler; Halo, you could argue, is the most important entertainment IP that Microsoft owns. I can’t use the word filler anywhere near Halo, it just won’t work. If we’re gonna do a television series with Halo, we’re gonna do it the right way, and we’re gonna do it because we think it really matters.

“I’m a big Walking Dead fan. I’ve read the comics and graphic novels; the IP has grown and became more accessible as it hit TV, then went to videogames where it did incredibly well, and I think that strategy of growing and deepening what the franchise and IP is about is a good strategy for an IP holder.”

It’s also been rumoured that the TV pilot will be helmed by Elysium and District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. How ironic would that be? Let us know your thoughts on Halo: The TV Series in the comments.

Following rumours that director Ridley Scott was working on a motion picture based on the ever popular Halo series, Microsoft has clarified that yet again, there are no plans for the same any time soon.

In a statement to Eurogamer, the company stated, “We plan to continue telling the Halo story through innovative channels, but there are no plans for a Halo motion picture at this time.

“The Halo franchise encompasses many elements, including games, action figures, novels and more. As always, we have many projects in the works that offer us the opportunity to bring in new audiences to the franchise, as we did in the past with Halo Legends and Halo: Forward Unto Dawn.”

There’s also Halo: The Television Series, which is one of the few Xbox-exclusive TV shows expected to be unveiled in the coming months. Of course, it could be that Microsoft is struggling to plug any leaks and work is currently progressing on the Halo movie. We’ll be content to wait and watch either way.

Microsoft president of entertainment and digital media Nancy Tellem has stated in a recent interview that the first piece of original Xbox programming will be coming in early 2014 for the Xbox One.

Speaking to Variety, she stated that Microsoft hopes to “put something up in the first quarter, at minimum second quarter. We aren’t Netflix, we aren’t Amazon. We’re a different animal. We’re neither or we’re a little like them. It all depends.

“The lack of black and white and this is the template and this is what we’re following is very difficult. As we continue to do deals everyone’s going to get more comfortable. I’m incredibly ambitious and impatient [but] we’re here to support the artists and the talent. We don’t have the layers traditional media has. Our studio is very lean which allows us to be a lot more nimble and have a direct relationship with talent and help them realize their vision.”

Earlier revealed shows included Halo: The Television Series. What has Microsoft been up to since? We’ll find out next year.

Spencer stated that, “They have literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now. We will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon.” He also stated that in regards to interactive sports broadcasting that, “We believe sports is a very interesting category globally.”

Considering that TV and sports held a significant portion of Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox One, with the initial reveal of the console in May heavily emphasizing TV content and shows for games such as Halo and Quantum Break, this is only a further indicator that it’s staying the course. How will it pan out after the Xbox One releases on November 22nd? That remains to be seen in the coming months.

“In the history of storytelling there have been five or six big advancements that changed the way we tell stories and the way human beings communicate with each other. Things like the invention of Western theatre, the invention of the printing press, the invention of the motion picture camera.

“Every time one of these things is invented we, being humans, scramble about madly trying to figure out how best to use these to convey a complex idea, emotions, narratives. We are, right now, right in the middle of another one of those huge events in the history of humanity’s ability to tell stories – and we don’t even have a name for it.

“It’s sort of the internet. It’s sort of connected devices. It’s sort of a lot of things. But we do understand that there’s this new, always-on, always-connected method by which we interact with each other all day, every day. And to be in a place like Microsoft that has an advantage over the rest of the planet to use that power, those tools, to redefine what it means to tell stories, that’s what gets me really excited.”

“We’ve got this interest now in redefining what storytelling is and to convey these stories across hardware, across a network that’s already established and has this audience. That puts Microsoft years ahead of anyone else out there. And the fact that they are this excited to use that advantage to tell really good stories and to hire a team that can tell those really good stories, that’s just exactly where I want to be in the world.”

Lee also stated that Kinct, along with SmartGlass and social networking has positioned the Xbox One to completely redefine the nature of entertainment, and that, “All it needs now is for a very smart group of people to flip that switch.”

Will that happen within the first year of the Xbox One’s launch? We’ll have to wait and see.

Not much has been revealed about the television series except that it will be live-action and produced by Spielberg. So far no other details have been showcased, except that there will be ‘hundreds of stories possible” in the Halo universe. We suppose this forms a decent impetus to showcase different tales in the universe a la Halo Legends.

And even if 343 Industries doesn’t go down that route, the developer has had some good luck with the Forward Unto Dawn series produced in association with Machinima prior to the launch of Halo 4. While it was a little cheap to announced something Halo-related but not gaming related, we can at least be sure it won’t be terrible.

Or will it? Let us know what you think in the comments below.