The Upcoming HALO Series Will Present a Side Master Chief You Don't Get to See in the Game

There’s still so much that we don’t know about producer Steven Spielberg’s Halo series, but Kiki Wolfkill, the studio head of transmedia at 343 Industries, recently opened up about the series. During an interview with  IGN, Wolfkill discussed some of the challenges the creative faced with bringing Master Chief to life in a live-action series. It’s explained that they wanted to show us a different side of Master Chief that we don’t get to see in the game:

“Probably the biggest challenge with adapting the game is, the game is designed to put you in Chief's armor. What we're asking people to do with the show is sort of sit back, and we're going to present a side of Chief that you just don't get to play in the game.”

Wolfkill went on to talk about their focus on the series and the stress and pressures they face working on an adaptation of a popular game like this:

“For me, what gets me through it is focusing on where we need to get to, right? And focusing on what we want to be able to devlier and why. The ‘why’ of it is really important. For the television series, we want to be able to do something new in Halo, and we want people to be able to experience it differently, and there’s such a responsibility, and there’s also just the personal, you know, drive of wanting to create something amazing. And you bring all those things together, and there’s sort of no room to panic.”

Pablo Schreiber plays Master Chief in the series, and he’s been described as “Earth’s most advanced warrior in the 26th century and the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant, an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity.”

The series is said to respect the Halo canon. Everything in the video games, the comics, novels, and the previously made series, will all be taken into account as the story for this series plays out. David Nevins, Chief Creative Officer, CBS & Chairman and CEO, Showtime Networks, said about the series.

“It delivers the visceral excitement of playing the game, along with a much deeper emotional experience around the Spartans, human beings who got their humanity chemically and genetically altered. The story is about reclaiming what makes them human, and therefore it’s a very powerful story.”

Pablo will be joined by newcomer Yerin Ha, who will play a new character within the Halo world named Quan Ah, “a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.” The cast of the series also includes Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac, and Kate Kennedy.

McElhone (Californication) will take on the role of two characters in the series. Dr. Catherine Halsey, "the creator of the Spartan supersoldiers, and Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race.”

Woodbine (Fargo) will play Soren-066, “a privateer at the fringes of human civilization whose fate will bring him into conflict with his former military masters and his old friend, the Master Chief.”

Azmi (Next Of Kin) will play Admiral Margaret Parangosky, “the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence.”

Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron) will play a new character for the series, Spartan Vannak-134, “a cybernetically augmented supersoldier conscripted at childhood who serves as the defacto deputy to the Master Chief.”

Culzac (The Witcher) will take on another new role of Spartan Riz-028, “a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine.”

Kennedy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) will be yet another new character named Spartan Kai-125, “a courageous, curious, and deadly Spartan supersoldier.”

The first season will consist of 10 episodes and is scheduled to air on Paramount+ in the first quarter of 2021. Multiple episodes of the series will be directed by Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) from writer Kyle Killen (Awake) who is also serving as executive producer and showrunner.