Halo (TV series)

Halo
Genre	Action-adventure Drama Military science fiction
Based on	Halo by Xbox Game Studios
Developed by	Kyle Killen Steven Kane
Starring	Pablo Schreiber Shabana Azmi Natasha Culzac Olive Gray Yerin Ha Bentley Kalu Kate Kennedy Charlie Murphy Danny Sapani Jen Taylor Bokeem Woodbine Natascha McElhone Joseph Morgan Christina Bennington Fiona O'Shaughnessy Cristina Rodlo Viktor Åkerblom Tylan Bailey
Theme music composer	Bear McCreary (season 2)
Composers	Sean Callery (season 1) Sparks & Shadows (season 2)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Steven Spielberg Steven Kane Kiki Wolfkill Frank O'Connor Bonnie Ross Justin Falvey Darryl Frank Otto Bathurst Toby Leslie Kyle Killen Scott Pennington David Wiener Gian Paolo Varani
Producers	Sheila Hockin Charlotte Keating Michael Armbruster Sarah McCarron Pablo Schreiber Natascha McElhone Nick Iannelli
Cinematography	Karl Walter Lindenlaub Eric Kress Ed Wild Carl Sundberg Andrew Commis Nicola Daley
Editors	Aaron Marshall Dan Briceno Geoff Ashenhurst Roderick Deogrades Carmela Iandoli Nicholas Wong
Running time	40–59 minutes
Production companies	Showtime Networks 343 Industries Amblin Television Chapter Eleven (season 1) One Big Picture David Wiener (season 2)
Budget	$90–200 million
Original release
Network	Paramount+
Release	March 24, 2022 (2022-03-24) – present (present)

Halo is an American military science fiction television series produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries and Amblin Television for Paramount+. Based on the video game franchise of the same name, the series follows a 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of several alien races determined to eradicate humanity. Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana; the latter reprises her voice role from the video game series.

Development for a Halo television series began in mid-2013. Kyle Killen was hired in June 2018 to serve as the showrunner, and the series officially announced a nine-episode order for Paramount+. Steven Kane was also hired in March 2019 to serve as a co-showrunner, alongside Killen. Filming began in Ontario, Canada, in October 2019, although post-production for the first five episodes was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming eventually resumed in Budapest, Hungary, in February 2021.

The first season of Halo premiered on March 24, 2022, and ran until May 19. It was met with mixed reviews, with praise given for its action scenes, cast, and visual effects but criticism for its derivative writing and alterations from the source material. A second season, consisting of eight episodes, premiered on February 8, 2024 with its first two episodes; subsequent episodes are set to be released weekly through March 21.

Premise

Halo follows "an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future."

Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill revealed that the series is a standalone story that takes place within its own "Silver Timeline" that is separate from and inspired by the core canon and lore of the transmedia franchise rather than a continuation, adaptation, prequel, or sequel, explaining that they wished to give the two Halo canons a chance to evolve individually to suit their media. This decision has been compared to how Marvel Studios has adapted the Marvel Comics into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Cast and characters

See also: List of Halo characters

Main

• Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a towering genetically engineered supersoldier known as "Spartan-117" and the leader of Silver Team.
  • Logan Shearer plays a teenage John-117
  • Casper Knopf plays a child John
• Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the Director of ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence)
• Natasha Culzac as Riz-028, a Spartan member of Silver Team
• Olive Gray as Commander Miranda Keyes, a UNSC (United Nations Space Command) officer and scientist and the daughter of Jacob Keyes and Catherine Halsey
• Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, an Insurrectionist teenager from the outer colony planet of Madrigal and daughter of Jin Ha
• Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134, a Spartan member of Silver Team
• Kate Kennedy as Kai-125, a Spartan member of Silver Team
• Charlie Murphy as Makee, a misanthropic human member of the Covenant who was raised by the Hierarchs as a "Blessed One".
  • Zazie Hayhurst plays a young Makee
• Danny Sapani as Captain/Admiral Jacob Keyes, a seasoned UNSC officer and father of Miranda Keyes
• Jen Taylor and Christina Bennington (season 2) as Cortana, an artificial intelligence (AI) construct modeled on the brain of Dr. Halsey and implanted in the brain of Master Chief as a means of influencing his decisions. Taylor reprises her voice role from the Halo video game series and also provides motion capture for the character in the first season while Bennington physically portrays the character in the second season.
• Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, a Spartan deserter who later became a pirate on the Rubble
  • Jude Cudjoe plays a teenage Soren-066
• Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, a scientist for the UNSC and creator of the Spartan-II program, and mother of Miranda Keyes
  • McElhone also portrays two flash clones of Halsey
• Joseph Morgan as Colonel James Ackerson (season 2), a formidable intelligence operative who has spent his career climbing the ranks of the UNSC's secretive Office of Naval Intelligence.
• Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Laera (season 2; guest season 1), Soren's wife
• Cristina Rodlo as Talia Perez (season 2), a corporal specializing in linguistics for a UNSC Marine Corp communications unit.
• Viktor Åkerblom as Var 'Gatanai (season 2), a high-ranking Elite who leads the Covenant's invasion of Reach
• Tylan Bailey as Kessler (season 2; guest season 1), Soren's son

Recurring

• Burn Gorman as Vinsher Grath (season 1), a politician and UNSC collaborator who suppresses the Insurrectionist movement on Madrigal.
• Ryan McParland as Dr. Adun Saly (season 1), Dr. Halsey's assistant
• Sarah Ridgeway as John's Mother (season 1)
• Duncan Pow as John's Father (season 1)
• Julian Bleach as the voice of the Prophet of Mercy, one of the Hierarchs
• Marvin Jones III as Louis-036 (season 2), a former Spartan who stepped down due to becoming blind
• Christian Ochoa Lavernia as Danilo (season 2), Louis' husband

Guest

• Jamie Beamish as the motion capture model of the Kaidon, the Covenant Elite survivor of the Battle of Madrigal
• Keir Dullea as Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, commander in chief of UNSC FLEETCOM
• Jeong-hwan Kong as General Jin Ha, Kwan's father and an Insurrectionist leader on Madrigal
• Josette Simon as Desiderata, leader of the Mystics
• Olwen Fouéré as The Mother (season 2), a shaman on the planet Sanctuary
• Ivanno Jeremiah as Antares (season 2), the second-in-command of Soren's crew
• Bronte Carmichael as Julia (season 2), Ackerson's sister
• Bill Paterson as Ackerson's Father (season 2)

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	9		March 24, 2022 (2022-03-24)	May 19, 2022 (2022-05-19)
2	8		February 8, 2024 (2024-02-08)	March 21, 2024 (2024-03-21)

Season 1 (2022)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Contact"	Otto Bathurst	Kyle Killen and Steven Kane	March 24, 2022 (2022-03-24)
In 2552, the Covenant attacks an Insurrectionist outpost on the planet Madrigal, massacring everyone except for teenager Kwan Ha before the Spartan-II unit Silver Team, led by Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, intervenes. In a nearby cave system, John discovers and retrieves a Forerunner keystone that reacts to his touch, displaying mysterious symbols and unlocking some of his sealed childhood memories. A surviving Covenant Elite witnesses this and reports it to the Prophet of Mercy at the Covenant capital, High Charity. On Reach, Dr. Catherine Halsey clashes with ONI Admiral Parangosky over her work on Cortana — a new type of AI based on Halsey's own brain patterns. After Kwan refuses to cooperate with the UNSC, John is ordered to execute her. He defies the order and rebels, earning Kwan's trust by taking off his armored helmet when she threatens him with his rifle. UNSC Captain Jacob Keyes orders John to be taken into custody; John touches the keystone again, which disables power in the base while also restoring power to his ship, allowing him and Kwan to escape. In the process, John discovers that he had drawn the keystone as a child, suggesting that he has a past connection to it.
2	2	"Unbound"	Otto Bathurst	Kyle Killen and Steven Kane	March 31, 2022 (2022-03-31)
In a flashback, a young John catches Soren, a fellow Spartan, fleeing and allows him to escape. In the present, John takes Kwan and the keystone to the Rubble, an Insurrectionist base carved out of a series of broken asteroids. There, they reunite with Soren, who is now an Insurrectionist leader. On Reach, Halsey faces scrutiny over John's actions but promises a solution to the problem. Captain Keyes dispatches Silver Team to recover John, the keystone, and Kwan. On High Charity, the surviving Elite from Madrigal reveals to the Prophets and their ward, a human named Makee, that John activated the relic; despite hesitance from the Prophet of Mercy, Makee insists that she can recover the keystone herself. Back on the Rubble, Soren introduces John to Reth, a deranged hermit who was once held captive by the Covenant. Reth forces John to reveal his ability to activate the keystone and hints that it leads to an alien superweapon of unparalleled destructive power. Shaken by the experience, John leaves Kwan with Soren and surrenders to Silver Team. He is consoled by Halsey, who promises a new beginning for him.
3	3	"Emergence"	Roel Reiné	Kyle Killen and Steven Kane	April 7, 2022 (2022-04-07)
In a flashback, a young Makee is discovered and inadvertently rescued from torture by the Covenant whose Forerunner device reacts to her. In the present, Makee leads a raid on a UNSC corvette in an attempt to find the location of the Madrigal keystone. With the ship's data erased, Makee travels to Madrigal where the keystone was originally discovered; she leaves transmissions of her orders behind. On the Rubble, Kwan convinces Soren to take her to Madrigal to reunite with Insurrectionists loyal to her father in exchange for a payment of deuterium. On Reach, Parangosky orders Miranda Keyes to study the keystone behind Halsey's back. Halsey completes the procedure of creating Cortana, using and killing a live clone of herself in the process, and places the AI in John's brain via a neural implant. Cortana, following Halsey's instructions, helps John remove a pellet that suppresses his emotions. After John explores some of the cityscape on Reach, he returns to base and touches the keystone again, where he has memories of his parents, his old home, and drawings of the Madrigal keystone and a complementary keystone. Convinced that the second keystone is located on his homeworld, Eridanus II, John and Halsey travel there to investigate.
4	4	"Homecoming"	Roel Reiné	Justine Juel Gillmer and Steven Kane	April 14, 2022 (2022-04-14)
On Reach, Kai-125 removes her emotional suppressor pellet and helps Miranda analyze the Madrigal keystone; Kai and Miranda discover that the keystone is related to a "Sacred Ring" that the Covenant call "Halo". On Madrigal, Kwan discovers her father's former allies refuse to help, fearing the Covenant and new UNSC-supported governor Vinsher Grath. Soren's ship is discovered and confiscated; Kwan goes to her aunt for help and learns of a mystical tribe that may have answers for her. Soren and Kwan escape Grath's troops and head for the spaceport to leave the planet. On Eridanus II, John, Halsey, and Cortana examine John's old home and find numerous drawings of the Forerunner keystones. After using Cortana to help recreate his home, John has memories of the location of the second keystone, but also his childhood and a visit from Halsey while his parents were alive.
5	5	"Reckoning"	Jonathan Liebesman	Richard E. Robbins and Steven Kane	April 21, 2022 (2022-04-21)
On Madrigal, Soren ties up Kwan while he goes to find a way off the planet, but Kwan frees herself and steals Soren's pistol and vehicle. On Eridanus II, the UNSC is preparing to secure the keystone and take it back to Reach. As the UNSC is testing the keystone, it releases energy that alerts Makee and the Covenant to its location. As John continues to question his past, he touches the keystone and has clear memories of Halsey and ONI troops kidnapping him as a child and replacing him with a flash clone of himself; in a rage, he attempts to kill Halsey before Cortana disables him using their mental link. As John awakens and contemplates his newfound knowledge, a Covenant corvette arrives and launches a surprise attack. Despite the efforts of Silver Team, the UNSC suffer heavy casualties, Kai is severely wounded, and the Covenant successfully retrieve the Eridanus II keystone and withdraw. As the Covenant corvette escapes the planet, a drop pod containing Makee is left behind.
6	6	"Solace"	Jonathan Liebesman	Silka Luisa and Steven Kane	April 28, 2022 (2022-04-28)
The surviving UNSC forces of the Eridanus II mission return to Reach. The UNSC takes Makee into their custody; although she claims to have been a prisoner of the Covenant, the UNSC does not trust her, considering that the Covenant are not known to take human prisoners. When John interrogates Makee, she reveals that they are both "blessed" with the ability to activate Forerunner technology. Makee says the likely location of the second keystone is a Covenant holy planet in the Aspero star system, named Raas Kkhotskha. Due to John and Kai's behavior following their removal of their emotional suppressors, Parangosky replaces Halsey as leader of all ongoing ONI projects with Miranda. John confronts Halsey and learns the true origins of the Spartan-II program: kidnapping and conscripting children to serve as supersoldiers, replacing them with terminally ill flash clones to alleviate suspicions, and subjecting them to augmentations with risk of deformation or death; John shares this with a recovering Kai. When John tests the Madrigal keystone once more, despite warnings of the possible ill effects it has on his health, he and Makee simultaneously have arrhythmias and seizures, while also sharing a vision of being on a Halo ringworld together.
7	7	"Inheritance"	Jessica Lowrey	Steven Kane	May 5, 2022 (2022-05-05)
While Soren, having returned to the Rubble, engages in space piracy against the UNSC, Kwan ventures into the deserts of Madrigal to track down a reclusive tribe of mystic nomads, hoping for answers about her family's true purpose. The mystics reveal that when Kwan's ancestors settled on Madrigal, they were charged by a Forerunner AI with protecting a Forerunner portal that resides somewhere on the planet. After a vision directs Kwan back to her father's outpost, she is rejoined by Soren, who came back in order to fulfill his promise to John to look over her. The outpost is surrounded by Vinsher Grath and his troops, who are looking to kill Kwan; despite being heavily outnumbered, Kwan insists upon fighting back. While Soren holds off Grath's forces, Kwan detonates the outpost's fuel supply using a gun that John had dropped during the fight with the attacking Covenant forces. The explosion kills Grath and his men; Kwan then pays Soren with money recovered from the outpost's supplies to honor their original deal. The two part on amicable terms, with Kwan determined to continue her mission and find the portal and take her position as its protector.
8	8	"Allegiance"	Jonathan Liebesman	Justine Juel Gillmer and Steven Kane	May 12, 2022 (2022-05-12)
Following their shared visions of the Halo, John begins to view Makee as a potential ally, despite the continued doubts of the UNSC as to her loyalty. John learns the Covenant seek the Halo rings to begin their transcendent "Great Journey". John is able to convince the UNSC to let Makee test the keystone under Miranda's supervision. John and Makee have sex; noting John's kindness and similarity to her, Makee begins to reconsider her loyalties. Halsey initiates remote protocols that disable all comms within the UNSC base and places Spartans Riz and Vannak under her direct control, ordering them to capture John, Makee, and the keystone; Cortana chooses at the last second to warn John instead. Riz and Vannak restrain Kai and attempt to fight John, and Miranda uncovers transmissions of Makee leading the attack on the UNSC corvette. After UNSC troopers restrain and taser her, bringing back memories of her youth, she reaffirms her loyalty to the Covenant, frees herself, and touches the keystone, sending shockwaves throughout the UNSC base, before saying her goodbyes to John via another shared vision.
9	9	"Transcendence"	Jonathan Liebesman	Steven Kane	May 19, 2022 (2022-05-19)
While Makee escapes Reach, Silver Team enters into a standoff that is only defused when Captain Keyes arrives and reveals to Vannak and Riz the truth about the Spartan-II program. Kai helps to apprehend Halsey, but Miranda realizes that the "Halsey" that was captured was actually a flash clone of the real Halsey, who secretly escaped from Reach. With Cortana's help, John deduces the location of Raas Kkhotskha and leads Silver Team there on a mission to recover the Forerunner keystones. On Raas Kkhotskha, Silver Team engages Covenant forces; when John is overwhelmed, Makee activates the combined keystones in order to generate a blast to save John, generating a star map leading to Halo, and inadvertently locking John into stasis. When John tries and fails to talk Makee down using another shared vision, Kai frees John from his trance by shooting Makee, shutting down the keystone before it can show Halo's location. After John takes a seemingly fatal hit, Cortana assumes control of John, rescues Silver Team, and escapes with them and both of the keystones. As they depart, Kai asks "John" if it is really him behind the helmet, but "he" only glances at her, wordlessly.

Season 2 (2024)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
10	1	"Sanctuary"	Debs Paterson	David Wiener	February 8, 2024 (2024-02-08)
Following the raid on Raas Kkhotskha, John and Cortana are surgically separated, saving his life. Six months later, Silver Team, to their annoyance, is sent on a mission to evacuate residents of the planet Sanctuary from the Covenant, though the residents resist until the Covenant begin glassing the planet. John rescues a marine named Talia Perez as the rest of her squadron is killed by Elites as Silver Team narrowly escapes the planet with a handful of survivors. Back on Reach, Silver Team meets ONI operative James Ackerson, Halsey's replacement in overseeing the Spartan program. Ackerson questions John about his experience on Sanctuary, expressing interest in Halsey's prior experiments on him in addition to concern over lingering side effects from having Cortana implanted in his brain. When Ackerson seemingly dismisses John's concerns of the Covenant's changing strategies, John secretly meets with Parangosky, who had been discharged from ONI after taking the fall from Halsey's scandals. Meanwhile, Soren takes interest in an indentured servant who claims to have seen Halsey. Ignoring his wife Laera's concerns, Soren purchases the servant's services in hopes of capturing Halsey but is instead led into a trap and arrested for piracy and treason as his crew abandons him.
11	2	"Sword"	Debs Paterson	Ahmadu Garba	February 8, 2024 (2024-02-08)
Kwan Ha, who had taken refuge on the Rubble since Madrigal was also glassed by the Covenant, escapes the grasp of several slavers as she secretly meets with Soren's son Kessler. Laera confronts Soren's crew, berating them for leaving him behind, and vows to find him. Meanwhile, as Cobalt Team, another fireteam of Spartans, is sent on a mission in Silver Team's stead due to Ackerson's reluctance to trust the latter, John reveals to Kai that he saw Makee on Sanctuary and pushes his teammates to train harder, anticipating that the Covenant is training for a larger-scale invasion. This puts strain on Riz, who is recovering from injuries suffered on Raas Kkhotskha. Ackerson reveals that Perez did not corroborate John's testimony of what happened on Sanctuary. John confronts Perez, who expresses survivor guilt and admits to not telling Ackerson the full truth, to which John also confides to her. Ackerson, who is holding Halsey captive in a simulated room, uses Cortana to help deduce an impending threat. When Cobalt Team fails to return from their mission, John tracks down recent Spartan missions and deducing that Cobalt never left Reach, gathers Silver Team to rescue them as he realizes the Covenant are also on Reach; elsewhere on the planet, a squadron of Elites, accompanied by Makee, takes out a squad of UNSC marines before encountering the larger keystone.
12	3	"Visegrad"	Craig Zisk	Marisha Mukerjee	February 15, 2024 (2024-02-15)
When Silver Team arrives at Cobalt's supposed location, FLEETCOM arrives to apprehend them despite John's insistence of Covenant activity. Captain Keyes, since promoted to Admiral, informs Silver Team they are suspended from combat, that Cobalt was "sent to a different planet", and that John is to undergo psychiatric evaluation. John escapes and rendezvouses with Parangosky, telling her his suspicions, but she warns him not to go against ONI and to play along with them, which he angrily dismisses. Ackerson shows Keyes the bodies of Cobalt Team, who were killed by the Covenant on Reach. Furious that Ackerson and ONI covered up what John had suspected, Keyes enacts the "Winter Contingency" of evacuating and defending Reach, against Ackerson's plan to secretly transport "essential assets" away without informing the public of the planet's doom. Ackerson bids farewell to Halsey, who reveals to Ackerson his sister Julia was a Spartan candidate but died during the augmentation process. Ackerson leaves Halsey with the apprehended Soren, then helps his elderly father commit suicide to avoid capture before boarding a spacecraft. Kwan protects Laera and Kessler from Soren's mutinous crew, killing the latter when they threaten Laera, though Kessler is separated from the group. John finds Perez, who explains she has cracked the Covenant's message announcing their intention to destroy Reach before explosions rock the planet.
13	4	"Reach"	Craig Zisk	Tom Hemmings	February 22, 2024 (2024-02-22)
The Covenant invasion of Reach begins with John and Perez witnessing her family killed by plasma bombardment. Halsey and Soren are freed from their cell when security for the ONI detention level deactivates. They run into Cortana's containment room and witness Makee capturing the AI's data crystal. John and Perez run into Riz, Louis and his spouse Danilo on their way to FLEETCOM HQ. Danilo is killed in the fighting and Louis sacrifices himself to take out a Covenant Wraith tank attacking the group. The remaining survivors manage to reach FLEETCOM where Vannak reveals their Mjolnir armor was taken during Ackerson's secret evacuation and Kai is missing. Admiral Keyes informs John of High Command's intention to abandon Reach and the truth behind Cobalt Team's status at the Visegrád Relay. Keyes leads Halsey and Soren to an evacuation shuttle where Perez is helping civilians board. The hangar comes under attack and Keyes sacrifices himself to allow the shuttle to escape. Silver Team is ambushed by Covenant forces led by Var 'Gatanai and Makee orders him to spare a wounded John's life. Vannak is impaled by a needler shard and dies watching one of the birds he's been feeding as a secret hobby soar in the sky.
14	5	"Aleria"	Otto Bathurst	Basil Lee Kreimendahl	February 29, 2024 (2024-02-29)
15	6	"Onyx"	Otto Bathurst	Sarah McCarron	March 7, 2024 (2024-03-07)
16	7	"Thermopylae"	Dennie Gordon	Ahmadu Garba	March 14, 2024 (2024-03-14)
17	8	"Halo"	Dennie Gordon	David Wiener	March 21, 2024 (2024-03-21)

Production

Development

The television series had gone through development hell with a planned release in 2015 that later changed to a 2019 release with Rupert Wyatt as director and executive producer, then a 2020 release; ultimately releasing in 2022 with Otto Bathurst replacing Wyatt in both roles.

In May 2013, Steven Spielberg was attached in executive producing a television series based on the video game franchise Halo, distributed by Xbox Entertainment Studios, with Spielberg's company Amblin Television involved. As of August 2015, the series had still been in active development.

On June 28, 2018, Showtime was given a 10-episode series order. Kyle Killen was set to be showrunner, writer and executive producer, while Rupert Wyatt was attached as director and executive producer. On August 12, it was announced that Master Chief would be the main lead of the series and that the series would tell a new story from the video games while respecting their canon at the same time. On December 3, Wyatt stepped down as director and EP due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Otto Bathurst in February 2019, when it was reported that Bathurst would be directing the pilot along with several other episodes. It was also revealed that the episode count had decreased from 10 episodes to 9. In March 2019, Steven Kane was added as co-showrunner alongside Killen.

On February 24, 2021, the series was moved from Showtime to Paramount+. Showtime president Gary Levine said that the show was an outlier for the company's brand, and as a "big broad tentpole show" it was a better fit on Paramount's service. On June 25, 2021, it was reported that both Kane and Killen would be exiting as showrunners following the completion of season one. Killen had left prior to the start of production, due to him feeling like he wasn't able to fulfill the duties of showrunner, with Kane taking the reins as lead showrunner until post-production work had been completed. However, should the show get picked up for a second season, Kane would not return.

In January 2022, it was revealed by executive producer Justin Falvey that the show has potential to last multiple seasons and that David Wiener was being eyed as the showrunner for a potential season two, with Kane staying on board as a consultant. On February 15, 2022, ahead of its premiere, Paramount+ renewed the series for a second season, with Wiener set as showrunner and executive producer.

Casting

From April to August 2019, the cast for the series was announced, with Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief. He was joined by Yerin Ha, Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac and Kate Kennedy. In November 2020, Jen Taylor replaced McElhone as Cortana. In September 2022, Joseph Morgan and Cristina Rodlo joined the cast, while Fiona O'Shaughnessy and Tylan Bailey were promoted to series regulars for the second season.

Filming

Principal photography commenced in October 2019. In 2019, the series spent over $40 million on production costs. The five filmed episodes were re-edited under the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, with production on the sixth episode and reshoots being planned in Ontario, Canada. Filming eventually resumed fully in Budapest, Hungary in February 2021. The total production of the series including the post-production is estimated to cost between $90–200 million for the first season. Filming for the second season began on September 15, 2022 in Iceland, and wrapped on May 1, 2023.

Music

In February 2022, it was announced that Sean Callery would compose the score for the series' first season. In February 2024, it was revealed that Bear McCreary would compose the main musical themes for the second season, with the score for the season being written by McCreary's production studio, Sparks & Shadows.

Release

Marketing

The first trailer for the series debuted online during the 2022 AFC Championship Game, while also revealing the March release date. Tie-in content themed around the series was released for Halo Infinite on May 10, 2022 in the form of in-game cosmetics for the game's multiplayer component.

Broadcast

The first two episodes premiered ahead of release on March 14 at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. The series then debuted on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022. The first episode set a record as Paramount+'s most-watched series premiere globally in its first 24 hours, though no exact viewership numbers were revealed. The first season overall was the second-most watched original series for Paramount+ as of June 2022. In the United Kingdom, the first episode of the series premiered on Channel 5 on June 22, 2022 to promote the launch of the Paramount+ streaming service in that country.

The second season premiered on February 8, 2024 with its first two episodes. Subsequent episodes will be released weekly through March 21.

Home media

The first season of Halo was released digitally on November 7, 2022, and on 4K UHD Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray, and DVD on November 15, 2022.

Reception

Critical reception

Critical response of Halo

Season	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
1	70% (71 reviews)	61 (20 reviews)
2	94% (16 reviews)	64 (8 reviews)

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 70%, with an average rating of 6.7/10, based on 71 reviews for the first season. The website's critics consensus reads, "Halo is too derivative of better science-fiction series to emerge a fully-formed elite, but glimmers of promise and faithfulness to the source material signal it's not out of the fight just yet." On Metacritic, the show's first season has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 20 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season currently holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.8/10, based on 16 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Reloading on surer footing, Halo's streamlined second season is a leaner and meaner dose of sci-fi that comes closer to realizing the property's potential." On Metacritic, the second season currently has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 8 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Jesse Schedeen of IGN, rated the first season a 7/10, saying, "[it] is by no means a perfect adaptation of the beloved source material." However he later backed it up with, "This is an adaptation willing to take some risks, and those risks tend to pay off." Gene Park from the Washington Post criticized the writing behind Kwan Ha and described the sex scene between the Master Chief and Makee in the penultimate episode of the first season as "rushed". He stated that the series "has its greatest successes in vignettes of exciting tense and well-acted, well-directed drama, but rarely ever earning those best moments within the context of all it's trying to juggle." Todd Martens from The Los Angeles Times criticized the script for shifting from a character-driven narrative to a plot-driven one. Martens also felt that the series sacrificed some of the "silliness" from the games.

Master Chief has been described as acting out of character compared to his core canon counterpart, and Kwan Ha, an original character created for the Silver Timeline canon, has received negative reception due to her story being perceived as too "disjointed" and "divorced" from the main plotline of the series and the Halo universe.

The sex scene between Master Chief/John and Makee, another original character created for the Silver Timeline canon, in the eighth episode of the first season has received a polarized reaction from audiences and critics; discussions included whether the scene was "contrived and forced", whether Master Chief commits a war crime by having sex with a prisoner of war who is unable to properly provide her consent, and whether this is atypical behavior of Master Chief in comparison to the core canon (this is the first time John has sex in either the core or Silver canons). Kiki Wolfkill, the studio head of transmedia at 343 Industries and an executive producer of the show, defended the addition of the scene, stating that while the creative team had "a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and... there's a lot of different opinions and voices", that the scene was necessary in order to humanize John by providing him with "a human connection with someone" in order to end the season with him as "a fully defined character".

Season 2 recieved a more positive reception, with some critics setting it apart from season 1. Criticis noted it as being more streamlined, and more action driven, with Hayden Mears of IGN proclaiming second season "leagues more coherent and inspired than the first" . The focus on the action scenes and the military drama, in the context of the ongoing conflict in, in particular the drama of season Bradley Russel of Total Film said of season 2, in particular the drama of episode 4 "This is finally the Halo show fans have been crying out for"

Marcus Lehto, one of the co-creators of the first Halo game, stated that the show is "not the Halo I made", but later stated that he "never said [he] didn't like it".

External links

• Official website
• Halo at Amblin
• Halo at IMDb