Steven Spielberg is 'a true gamer', says 'Halo' producer Kiki Wolfkill (exclusive)

Watch: Halo's Kiki Wolfkill explains Steven Spielberg video game love

Halo executive producer Kiki Wolfkill has revealed that Steven Spielberg is 'a true gamer' who was heavily involved in shepherding the famous video game franchise to the small screen.

Spielberg was first attached to produce the series back in 2013 and it entered development hell for several years before arriving in its current guise, showing up on Paramount+ as part of its UK launch.

Wolfkill, who oversees the Halo franchise in media outside of the games, told Yahoo that Spielberg remained a key creative partner throughout the production.

Read more: Steven Spielberg discusses his move into musicals

"Spielberg is a true gamer. He truly loves games, which is one of the things that was so exciting when he signed on and in the first meeting," she said.

Wolfkill added: "It wasn't just that he thought games might be an interesting place to dabble. It's something he genuinely feels passion and respect for.

"He has been behind the scenes all along, reading scripts and watching edits along the way. To have that sort of mastery of world-building and storytelling behind the scenes is a pretty extraordinary gift to have."

Read more: Uncharted star discusses video game movie "curse"

Halo stars Pablo Schreiber as video game protagonist Master Chief — an enhanced super-soldier fighting for humanity in an ongoing war against the alien threat known as the Covenant.

The show has already received the green light for its second season, and Wolfkill said there has been a shift in the way Hollywood feels about video game adaptations in recent years.

She said: "I think there is a realisation of not just the depth of the worlds and the characters but, more importantly, how deeply people connect to those characters and those worlds.

"So I think part of it is just that there's a little bit of a different perspective from Hollywood on these video games. They really are getting to treat them like the world-class IPs we as gamers have always thought of them as."

Read more: Master Chief hologram appears to promote Halo TV show

The Halo series also stars Natascha McElhone, Shabana Azmi, Bokeem Woodbine and Jen Taylor, with the latter reprising her role as advanced AI Cortana from the video games.

Halo is available on Paramount+ now. New episodes will be available to stream weekly on Wednesdays.

Watch: Stars attend Paramount+ launch event in London