The Halo TV show lets you see Master Chief like you’ve never seen him before.
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It was a moment I dreaded ever since I heard that an adaptation of the popular video game franchise, Halo, was coming to television. Spoiler alert: the next line reveals a major plot point.
“Watch out for spoilers!”
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The warrior Master Chief removes his helmet to show his face.
For those unfamiliar with Halo lore, here’s a big deal: The protagonist of six mainline video games as well as countless novels and comics, John 117, or the Master Chief, has graced an endless parade of merch and never makes an appearance his face. It’s just not done. A key part of its appeal is its anonymity. He’s a relentless, indomitable soldier, voiced with stoic gruffness by actor Steve Downes, a laconic vessel for players to embark on as they battle hordes of aliens bent on exterminating humans.
So I’ll admit that while watching the Halo series streaming on Paramount Plus on Thursday, March 24th, I winced as the iconic green and yellow helmet rises up around actor Pablo Schreiber’s face to reveal. As someone who’s played virtually every Halo game and is emotionally invested in The Master Chief, something in my gut told me that was wrong. Whatever image I had formed in my mind of John, it wasn’t Schreiber. He was, for want of a better description, too normal.
But after a moment (or two) of processing the scene, and after making a conscious decision to let the story unfold over the next few episodes, I realized it was wise to rip the bandage (or helmet) off early.
blasphemy you say? Maybe. But seeing that war-weary face of a man questioning the military authority he was raised to obey is key to the show, given the depth of the other characters, the story, and really the entire universe of this one lose a character. This isn’t Star Wars, where the characters and locations are well understood by the masses. Halo needs to educate many viewers about the different races, worlds, and political dynamics, and it does it through John’s eyes.
And without a helmet, you can see that reaction through his actual eyes.
It’s a clear signal that this show deviated from the game’s canon in many ways. Master Chief’s face is an early warning to help you adjust to the TV show’s major changes in Halo’s history, dubbed the “Silver Timeline.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Video game plots and characters are designed for this medium, and an overly faithful adaptation doesn’t always work out (remember Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed?). Creating something unique, especially given Halo’s complicated canon, might be the best way to create an entertaining show for everyone, not just hardcore gamers. Plus, there are a few fan-friendly nods to the game – like watching the Master Chief duck for cover during combat – that prove the filmmakers aren’t throwing the game just for the game’s sake.
As my colleague Mark Serrels noted in his early review of Halo, the show shifts from the original game’s simplistic and jingoistic story about a UNSC super soldier and Space Marines who could do no wrong.
The TV show introduces complexities that make the story more compelling, even as it turns what Halo fans know and love on its head. And it only works if you can read the main character’s emotional state. This won’t be a show about a super soldier slogging his way through Alliance alien forces – that would repeat itself after a few episodes, as would a faceless, almost emotionless character. Instead, the hope is that these story creases, and how Master Chief responds to them, will deliver a compelling character arc.
The Master Chief and his armored, helmeted Spartans are humanity’s only effective weapon against the Alliance.
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It’s not Mandalorian
The series also unveils a mystery surrounding Kwan Ha (played by Yerin Ha), who survives a brutal attack by Alliance alien forces. The growing bond between Master Chief and Ha draws comparisons to The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, but there are some key differences.
Halo, popular as it is, doesn’t have the same mass appeal as Star Wars. Kids grow up learning about lightsabers, Tatooine, lightspeed jumps and all that lore (including prominent helmeted characters like Boba Fett and Darth Vader). The Mandalorian was conceived as a Western, with a faceless gunslinger taking care of a heart-melting uber-lovable sidekick. There’s a familiarity with the dynamics, the settings and the mythos that allow you to comfortably slip into the world and enjoy the ride.
And really, nothing tops Baby Yoda.
Halo doesn’t have that luxury of familiarity. If you’re not a gamer, you probably only know Halo as a shooter on a giant alien ring structure – if at all. There’s a lot of worlds to build, from the Covenant hierarchy to the tensions between the UNSC and the colony worlds – details that might have escaped even some players.
That the Master Chief remains faceless, detached from anything that’s going on, adds a level of detachment that can put viewers off before they can emotionally engage with this universe.
The Halo show is just getting started, so it remains to be seen if the story and story twists are compelling enough to justify this bold and potentially unnerving move. But it’s also an opportunity to take the Master Chief’s character to new and different places.
This prospect is worth accepting. So, Halo fans, let’s just breathe a little and see where the ride takes us.
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