Halo

Halo has been immensely popular as a video game franchise and has now been turned into a Halo series on Amazon. Here you’ll find everything you need to know about the show, the cast, and when to expect future seasons.

Halo Series Info

In 2018, the Showtime network greenlit a television show based on the Halo video game series. Since then they’ve been slowly turning their Halo series project into a reality. It ended up premiering on Paramount+ starring Pablo Schreiber in the lead role.

The series has been a moderate success for the streamer, coming in with higher expectations because of the video game’s popularity.

Let’s take a look at what we know about Halo and what is to coming with this franchise.

Halo Season 1 Premiered On Paramount+ In 2022

The first season of Halo was on the Paramount+ network, hitting the streamer in March 2022. The series adapted the stories from the incredibly popular video game franchise and it was the first attempt at really bringing this story to the masses in a way that could appeal to those who hadn’t actually played the game.

Pablo Schreiber Is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

The biggest piece of the Halo series was casting the lead role and even there was some controversy about how things should be handled. That’s because in the video game, the character rarely if ever removes his helmet. He’s somewhat anonymous, meant to be that way in order to allow players to imagine themselves (presumably) in the role.

But this being a television series, it was rather unlikely that we would go the whole time without seeing Schreiber’s face in the show. Unlike The Mandorlian, which has stayed mostly true to form in this sense, Pablo Schreiber’s Master Chief does take the helmet off in the series, somewhat nonchalantly even.

Not all fans have been down with this move, even if the mechanics behind it made sense. In the end, Schreiber is an incredible actor, so bringing humanity (so to speak) to the part made sense on a higher level, especially for those coming to the series without having played the actual game themselves.

The Halo Series Cast

In addition to Pablo Schreiber, there are a number of other names added to the Halo cast. Most notably, Jen Taylor was on as Cortana, the AI that’s implanted into Master Chief’s brain as an aid in the fight against the Covenant. Miller voiced the character in the video game franchise as well, so staying true to form for this casting was a win in fan’s eyes.

Also in the Halo cast are Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky and Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, two key pieces in the series. They are at the top of the Spartan project that Master Chief is a part of in the fight against the Covenant.

Kyle Killen Led The Show

Kyle Killen was been selected as both showrunner and writer for the Halo series. Killen has written for shows such as Lone Star and Mind Games, neither one a huge success, so Showtime may be rolling the dice here.

Levine explained, through Gamespot, the reasoning behind the Killen hire, “We made a conscious decision to hire a writer not known for sci-fi and not known for big battle movies or anything. Because that’s already baked into the Halo franchise and we will service that. But we also want to ensure that we get underneath the formidable armor of the Spartans.”

Halo Season 2 Is In The Works

It didn’t come as much of a surprise to know that Halo season 2 is coming down the pike for Paramount+. While it wasn’t an enormous hit for the streamer, and some criticism was leveled at the somewhat reductive plot mechanics, this is simply too big of a franchise to stop after one season.

There are no firm timelines for a second season, but production is expected to begin in 2023.

Halo Series Cast

Master Chief John-117

Pablo Schreiber

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Margaret Parangosky

Shabana Azmi

Makee

Charlie Murphy

Riz-028

Natasha Culzac

Miranda Keyes

Olive Gray

Cortana

Jen Taylor

The Halo game franchise has been around for more than two decades now with multiple iterations over the years. It’s still going strong and there’s a reason the franchise has sold more than 81 million copies.

Halo Games News

Halo: Combat Evolved

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Halo 2

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Halo 3

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Halo 4

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Halo 5

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Halo Infinite

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Paramount+ premiered its brand-new and highly anticipated Halo series on March 22, 2022, with its 9-episode run ending in the middle of May. Although fans were less than enthusiastic since the series dropped, critics have been more welcoming. Paramount+, though, decided to run it back on a Halo Season 2, renewing the series for a second season even before the series dropped.

Getting the series into production for season 2 proved to be a little more challenging. Issues with weather and future plot points slowed production a bit but didn’t shut it down. Here is all we know about Halo Season 2.

Halo Cast

Master Chief John-117

Pablo Schreiber

news

Margaret Parangosky

Shabana Azmi

Makee

Charlie Murphy

Riz-028

Natasha Culzac

Miranda Keyes

Olive Gray

Cortana

Jen Taylor

HALO SEASON 2 FOCUSED ON HUMANS AVOIDING EXTINCTION

One of the most important elements of the Halo franchise is the threat imposed by an invasion. This invasion is done by an alien race known as the Covenant.

These highly advanced and brutal aliens do all they can to essentially wipe everyone off the face of the planet that they are inhabiting. That was the case for most of the Halo video games and as the first season has since wrapped, it was the case for the Halo series as well.

The premise of this show sees Doctor Hasley (Natascha McElhone) creating super soldiers who are known as Spartans. These Spartans are led by none other than Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) and are humanity’s hope in stopping the invasion of the Covenant, a deadly alien race.

Of course, there is a lot more to it because where there is a doctor, there is usually a lab. Where there is a lab, there are usually experiments. Where there are experiments, there is usually something more sinister going on behind the scenes.

After the first nine episodes, we had an idea about what’s been going on. It all revolves around the Halo rings that were designed by an ancient race called the Forerunners. These rings were created to kill all life throughout the universe so a parasite called The Flood would have nothing to feed on. This could was part of the direction Halo Season 2 went with The Flood.

The focal point of this new series, though, was its focus on Master Chief. While the game’s primary focus was to keep the Chief mysterious in nature, the Paramount+ series chose to show the audience why he is the way he is. This also was the main aspect of the second season.

The Halo series is meant to show that humanity is truly about to be extinct, and why it was necessary to create super soldiers to protect the world. This same plotline worked for Captain America, so it should work for Master Chief.

He is kind of like the Captain America of the video game world.

PABLO SCHREIBER IS MASTER CHIEF

One of the most divisive elements from the Halo series was Master Chief removing his helmet. Though Pablo Schreiber is a fantastic actor, taking off the protagonist’s helmet is nearly blasphemy to the game’s fans. This has been one of the most talked-about decisions since the decision was announced.

There are droves of fans that spoke out against it, going so far as to claim they would not even watch the show because of this plot point. The video game series never accomplished this because part of the fun was the player taking on the role of Master Chief while in the first-person perspective.

The new series is meant to dive deeper into who Master Chief is and apparently Halo Season 2 explores that aspect even further.

Pablo Schreiber spoke to Collider and revealed some details about Halo Season 2 before it released. According to the actor, “We meet a character who’s cut off from his humanity, who doesn’t have access to his emotions, who doesn’t even have memories of his childhood. It starts there and he has an interaction with an artifact that brings back some memories from his childhood. He begins the process of uncovering his own personal history.”

This is interesting, but it appears as if this artifact will tell of how John Spartan essentially became Master Chief. Though he is not named as such in the show, John-117 is his designation, as he is part of the Spartan collective.

This also makes a ton of sense considering there were other soldiers shown in the trailer that looked like the ODST soldiers. These soldiers are the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. This is from the Halo spin-off game, Halo: ODST.

Master Chief is meant to be more of an inwardly broken man at this juncture of the show, and the audience saw why he is the way he is in Halo Season 2. Taking off his helmet in the first season was that first step, but now more exposition uncovers why he stands above the rest of the Spartans.

Master Chief having a damaging childhood would make a ton of sense that leads the man to rise above the rest of his competition. Maybe some of the children or teenagers that were experimented on also didn’t survive. That’s a much darker storyline to go with, but it could happen.

MASTER CHIEF HAD SEX

Another major divisive element of season 1 was the fact that Master Chief had sex. The scene appeared in the series’ eighth episode and involved Master Chief and Makee (Charlotte Murphy). Part of the controversy revolved around the simple fact that it was Master Chief losing his virginity and it was a decision executive producer Kiki Wolfkill said they struggled with.

“There was a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and it was a tough one,” Wolfkill said. “I mean, I will say that there’s a lot of different opinions and voices.” The scene, though, was meant to show how important it was for Master Chief to establish a human connection with another. “There’s a lot of different opinions on how to do that,” Wolfkill continued, “and ultimately, we ended up with that path and I think a lot of us feel conflicted about it and that’s not a bad thing.”

WHERE WAS HALO SEASON 2 FILMED

Schreiber explained before the shooting began the troubles they were facing. “We’ll be filming again this summer,” Schreiber remarked at the time. “We’re still figuring out exactly what the start date is, but we will be in production by summertime because we have a hard date that we need to be up and running in order to get some location that is weather-affected.” Filming for Halo Season 2 eventually began in Iceland with additional shooting taking place in Budapest, Hungary.

HALO SEASON 2 RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 8. 2024

Season 2 of Halo on Paramount+ in 2024 and attempted to address many criticisms from its first season, focusing more on the core conflict between the UNSC and the Covenant. The season features a significant shift in narrative direction, with the introduction of new characters like Admiral Ackerson and a renewed emphasis on the Master Chief’s role in the ongoing war.