When is the Halo TV series out? Plans for a live-action adaptation of the Halo FPS games stretch right back to 2005, and after nearly two decades, a television show is just on the horizon. Halo: The Series brings Master Chief and his endless war against the Covenant to the small screen, through streaming service Paramount Plus, allowing us to witness the struggle to save humanity like we’ve never seen it before.
Pablo Schreiber is the actor stepping up to play Master Chief, the Spartan supersoldier who’s been genetically engineered to be mankind’s great protector. He’ll be joined by Cortana, an AI that assists him, and an array of Marines from the United Nations Space Command in trying to hold off all the Elites, Brutes, Jackals, and Hunters that come his way.
The mission is to prevent the activation of the eponymous Halo – a gigantic, intergalactic weapon that can wipe out all sentient life. Not ideal! The Halo was designed by an ancient race as a means of battling the Flood, a parasitic organism that threatens to assimilate every living creature. We never said this universe was fun, but it should make a captivating sci-fi series – here’s everything we know.
Halo TV series release date: when does the Halo TV series start?
When the initial teaser dropped back in November 2021, all we knew was that the Halo TV series would drop at some point in 2022. But now, with the official full length trailer released on January 30, 2022, we have an exact date to look forward to! Mark your calendars, Halo: The Series streams exclusively on Paramount Plus on March 24, 2022.
Halo TV series trailer: is there a trailer for the Halo TV series?
On March 15, we got a brand new second trailer for the Halo TV series, which gives us a much better look at the supporting characters in the show. We also see lots of action-packed moments, and some fascinating flashbacks which hint at the emotional core of the series.
Is that a young Master Chief we spy? Most probably, given the fact that this series is set to unmask our protagonist for the first time in the franchise, it makes sense that we will explore his backstory, too.
On January 30, 2022, as part of a panel at the Television Critics Association 2022 winter press tour, we got this official, full-length trailer which gives us a great look at Master Chief himself, the worlds we are set to visit, and the allies and adversaries our protagonist will meet along the way.
Most importantly, we catch a glimpse of the Halo and get a sense of its immense power. The trailer includes the phrase “Our deadliest weapon, is our greatest hope”, and we hear Master Chief say: “Find the Halo, win the war”, both of which give us a tantalising tease of the overarching narrative to the series.
This new trailer certainly puts us in the heart of the action, more than the previous trailers at least. We see Master Chief battling, and seemingly defeating, Covenant Elites in a good old-fashioned swordfight. And towards the end of the trailer, we see Makee, a new character in the Halo lore, who does not seem like someone you want to get on the wrong side of.
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Prior to this, we had an extended teaser from the Game Awards, which mainly offered a lot of world-building, and briefly showed Master Chief preparing for battle, but no actual action. Before that, we had the original teaser from November 2021 that gave our first glimpse at Schreiber’s Master Chief. You can see his back, all scarred and mutilated; then you watch him put on that iconic helmet, before he turns towards the camera.
Halo TV series plot: what will the Halo TV series be about?
There isn’t much in the way of a specific description available for the Halo TV series story, but we can expect some variation on Master Chief fighting the Covenant on some planet or another. A light synopsis was given to Deadline in 2018 when the series was gaining traction on Showtime. Kyle Killen and Steven Kane are still showrunners, but still – take it with a pinch of salt.
“Dramatising an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant,” the description reads, “Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.”
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The first part is par the course for the franchise, but the second is interesting. Halo isn’t necessarily known for its “deeply drawn personal stories”, but that doesn’t mean it’s without them entirely. Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach were, in particular, very much character-driven in their plotting and themes.
It sounds like the show might be trying to encompass multiple instalments of the games, which is fascinating to consider. 343 Industries executive producer Kiki Wolfkill has said liberties are being taken with the established canon. “There are some details that we may shift, but we want to respect the fans and what they love about the IP,” she told VG247, adding that “dates, locations, or ethnicity of characters” might be altered.
In perhaps the biggest deviation from the story of the videogame series so far, the executive producer of the Halo TV series has confirmed that audiences will see Master Chief remove his helmet. This will be the first time we have seen Master Chief’s face, and it’s something of a divisive decision from Kiki Wolfkill.
“With the television series, we want to take you on John’s journey and let you experience, as a viewer, his story and evolution from an external, subjective viewpoint; for that, it felt important to see John outside of his armour,” Wolfkill explains. “It felt critical to explore the human within the armour and present a deep set of character stories that gives the audience a different way to experience the Halo universe,” she added.
Halo TV series cast: who is in the Halo TV series?
We know quite a few of the cast members for Halo. Pablo Schreiber is playing Master Chief, the protagonist, and Jen Taylor is voicing Cortana, his AI companion. As far as characters relevant to Halo lore, Natascha McElhone is the only other interesting member, as she’s playing Dr Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartan-2 programme that created Master Chief.
Dr Halsey appears later in the games, in Halo: Reach, Halo 4, and Halo 5, lending credence to the notion the show will cover a lot of ground on the timeline. It also suggests we’re going to see Master Chief’s origins, or at least, his background will be actively discussed.
We do have three other Spartans: Bentley Kalu’s Vannak-134, Natasha Culzac’s Spartan Riz-028, and Kate Kennedy’s Spartan Riz-028. It’s believed Vannak-134 will be close to Master Chief, described as a “de facto deputy”.
The show’s main villain, it seems, is Makee, played by Charlie Murphy. Makee is an orphaned human who was raised by the alien Covenant and shares their contempt for humanity.
The confirmed Halo TV series cast is:
- Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief
- Jen Taylor as Cortana
- Natascha McElhone as Dr Catherine Halsey
- Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha
- Charlie Murphy as Makee
- Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Director of ONI.
- Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066
- Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes
- Kate Kennedy as Kai-125
- Natasha Culzac as Riz-028
- Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134
- Danny Sapani as Captain Jacob Keyes
will there be a season 2 of the halo tv series?
Yes, there will! Even before season 1 has aired, Paramount has announced that season 2 of the Halo TV series has been given the greenlight. This surely shows the studio has a lot of faith in the project, so fingers crossed season 1 lives up to the hype!
Suit up, Spartans. The wait is almost over. @HaloTheSeries premieres March 24 exclusively on #ParamountPlus with a second season already ordered. pic.twitter.com/0roZG1X2bR
— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) February 15, 2022
That is everything we know about the Halo TV series. We’ll make sure to keep you updated on everything about Paramount’s adaptation of Bungie, Microsoft, and 343 Industries’ games. Rest assured, when there’s a rustle from the Covenant, you’ll know about it.
If you can’t get enough Halo be sure to check out our sister site The Loadout’s coverage of Halo: Infinite. They’ve more guides than Master Chief has confirmed kills including one on all the skull locations.