‘Halo’ Star, EPs Explain Why Master Chief Finally Takes Off His Helmet in the New Series

Adapting Halo required some major changes to the source material. After all, not every first-person shooter is designed to be a perfect TV series, and the biggest of those changes has to do with Master Chief’s iconic appearance. Ahead of the premiere of Halo on Paramount+, Decider spoke to series’ star Pablo Schreiber as well as executive producers Steven Kane and Kiki Wolfkill about why the series shows Master Chief without his trademark helmet and armor — and what other changes needed to be made to prepare this story for television.

In the Halo games, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is never depicted without his signature helmet and suit (other than a brief shot of his eyes in an after-credits scene in Halo 4). But within Halo’s first two episodes, Officer John (Schreiber) removes both, multiple times.

“It’s a matter of tailoring the entertainment for the medium that it’s being created for,” Schreiber told Decider. “Halo is a first-person shooter video game where you’re asked to believe that you’re the character of Master Chief, you know? And so the character for the video game is created in a very opaque way where there’s not a lot of character development. He’s a man of few words. He’s more of a symbol than an actual human, right? Because you’re being invited to play the game as him and you have co-ownership of creating the character throughout the game.”

In contrast to games, television has different requirements. “In order to empathize with the protagonist of your television show, especially over a long form storytelling format — which is, we hope, multiple seasons — you really want to have access to the character,” Schreiber said. “It was very important to make that distinction early on to get the audience comfortable with it as fast as possible because we have a lot of storytelling to do. We need you on the journey with us along the way, and you really want to be following John through this process.”

Master Chief’s appearance isn’t the only major change that had to be made for TV. While it’s certainly mentioned in the games, the Halo series will explore the special connection Officer John has with alien Forerunner artifacts. This aspect even appears in Halo’s trailer. In this universe, the Forerunners were a highly advanced, ancient species that named humans as their successors before their disappearance. The Covenant, the empire that is the primary foe of Master Chief’s United Nations Space Command, worship the Forerunners as gods.

The games have touched on Master Chief’s special connection to these artifacts, but never like this. “In the games, it’s often so that he can open a door and we can actually progress through this story. So this is actually taking the same idea, but taking it to a much, much more deeply explored level,” Wolfkill said. “There is something that’s unique about Chief, and that is something we probably understand through the games a little bit more than we do in the story of the show right now.”

“Without giving away any spoilers, the connections to the artifact, it’s a way of queuing John into exploring himself more,” Kane explained. “It sort of awakens something inside of him and what is the launchpad for his journey of self-discovery.”

What makes Officer John special is also what drew UNSC scientist Dr. Halsey (Natascha McElhone) to him in the first place. That’s a detail that’s long been part of Halo lore, but now we’re finally going to get an explanation for it. “It’s a much more reciprocal connection, I would say, in the show than we’ve been able to do in the games,” Wolfkill teased.

New episodes of Halo premiere on Paramount+ Thursdays. 

Watch Halo on Paramount+