According to a script review, the reason that D.B. Weiss has replaced Alex Garland as the writer of Halo is down to his talent and pitch. Apparently he came in and pitched such a good story to the people behind Halo that they took him onboard, but only after they had seen the proof of his talent in a speculative script called Kashmir.

As Latino Review through Jo Blo tell us, a speculative script (or spec script) is one that a writer completes without a move deal, he just sits down and writes it for the love, and that's what Weiss did.

He wrote a story about three ex-soldiers who set out to hunt down the biggest terrorist leader in this near future history. The rough blurb gives a feel of the novel I've just completed, Vengeance, the novel that inspired the film Munich, and it reads really well (check out the review on LR). This persuaded the Halo team that Weiss was the man.

I'm still surprised, the pitch must have been really good to get them to drop Garland, and I'm sure there's a bit more behind this than just the pitch and script.

The good news is that WB have bought the script...but will they make such a close to the truth film that depicts such a strong terrorist act?