Warning spoilers ahead! Every fan of the Halo videogames knows that Master Chief is pretty much a faceless hero blasting the Covenant in heavy armour. So, it is unsurprising that when the first episode for Paramount Plus’s Halo TV series saw the character take off his helmet, more than a few eyebrows were raised.
Telling the story in an all-new timeline separate from the hit videogame franchise, the Halo TV series is set in the 26th-century and shows the conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Master Chief is a hulky super-soldier who has been trained to kill aliens since birth and is unsurprisingly a main fixture in Paramount’s newly released adaptation. In the Halo games, we have seen glances of the man behind Master Chief’s heavy-duty mask, be that his eyes or even a shot of his face as a child. However, other than those instances, the helmet has stayed firmly on.
But, Paramount’s adaption went in guns ablaze and shocked the fanbase by showing us clearly who the man behind the mask is – actor Pablo Schreiber. Viewers quickly took to Twitter to express their disappointment in the reveal, citing that it was too early for such a pivotal development to happen. Others pointed out that Schreiber did not live up to their long-awaited expectations of what Master Chief would look like. In short, many were unhappy at finally seeing Master Chief’s mug.
Below are some fan reactions:
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Halo s01e01 was as terrible as expected, dang if they did the one thing you shouldn't do and its constant now according to the peeps who got to see ep 2, its just there being a cardinal sin cuz damn if people can't relate to MC being just a cool helmet. pic.twitter.com/bZNh3cC7wv— Terrible the Terrible (@CalicoBggs) March 24, 2022
Master Chief without his helmet in the new Halo series looks like he's super into Philly sports. pic.twitter.com/PbpJrbOh65
— (L)iam (D) Nolan (@LD_Nolan) March 24, 2022
Wow can't even get master chief's face under the helmet right smh https://t.co/gN11GBSaLz pic.twitter.com/Vyf42aVDI9
— Trash Queen 🍑Yamato Simp (@Trashqueen_01) March 24, 2022
However, despite some fans’ outrage, you can’t deny that TV and videogames differ in their medium. In an interview with Den of Geek, Pablo Schreiber explained why Master Chief needed to be seen early on in order for the sci-fi series to work.
“It does feel particularly important that this was the step that we took to tell a long form television story for multiple seasons,” Schreiber said. “Without getting the helmet off and without getting access to the face, you really are not able to take an audience on the long journey we want to take them on.”
Despite some of the fan’s adverse reactions to Master Chief’s face, it is obvious that Paramount has faith in the series. A second season has already been greenlit. Once the fanbase gets more comfortable with the separate timeline from the game’s canon, we may see sentiment towards Master Chief turn positive.
Halo is out now on Paramount Plus for all our US readers. UK viewers will have to wait a bit before seeing master chief’s mug. Paramount Plus is coming to the UK later in 2022 via Sky. However, no firm release date has been announced just yet.