Halo is one of the most popular games that has come out over the years. It was actually one of the most surprising things to see that this game was going to get a series adaptation from Paramount+. Fans of the franchise have waiter years to see a proper adaption being made for the game and the first look and trailer ended up being really promising for the fans. The trailer included a glance at everything that was considered the best from the game including Cortana. But there is one move that the series makes that hasn’t actually been quite acceptable amongst the fans. It seems that Master Chief’s Face Reveal in Halo‘s episode 1 is something that has had a divided reception amongst fans.
Halo
One of the most essential parts of the Halo games has to be the longtime fandom it has established. The idea for a series adaptation for the game has been under development for quite a long time. There were even plans for a movie but that fell apart and finally, we have this series to thank for bringing the narrative to such a format. It was quite expected to see that this series will take certain creative liberties in order to make for an interesting adaptation for the fans. Just a few weeks before the release of the series, it was announced that we will get to see one of the biggest changes very early in the series.
This was nothing but the tease that the series will feature a major moment where Master Chief’s face will be revealed. There has been a hint that we will get to see this reveal since the ending of Halo: Combat Evolved. According to producer Kiki Wolfkill:
You will see his face. For some people, it’s been a moment 20 years in the making, and for other people it is something that feels very hard to imagine. We absolutely respect both sides of that fence, those who really want to see Chief’s face and those who really don’t. But for the nature of this story, it felt really important to connect with the Master Chief in a different way, and that meant showing the face.
Why Does Master Chief’s Face Reveal Change Everything?
Master Chief’s mystery regarding his appearance is something that has been an essential part of the hype around the character. It was assumed that it will make for a move where the players will consider themselves to be the character in the game. This made it more fun and added to the mythology of the character making every single time we saw his helmet an interesting part of the narrative. There was some excitement when it was announced that we will finally get to see his face but it became quite obvious that it will ruin this bit from the games.
Why Was The Face Revealed?
Producer Kiki Wolfkill went into detail regarding why Pablo Schreiber’s face was revealed in the series on the Halo website. It wasn’t a simple decision according to her as she stated,
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 armor. We have done this in the past in books and some of our extended storytelling, but this is by far the most visually rich example.
She further added that keeping the helmet would have been unjust to the performance of the actor as she said:
For us and the show, it felt critical to explore the human within the armor and present a deep set of character stories that gives the audience a different way to experience the Halo universe. … would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the talent and commitment of Pablo Schreiber in bringing this version of the Master Chief to life. There is no end to the respect with which he treated this role and inhabited the suit; we had a lot of conversations around what it meant for John to remove his helmet and it was a responsibility Pablo felt every bit as deeply as we do.
This was something that was seen in the case of the Diseny+ series The Mandalorian too but there was an interesting twist here. While the series did indicate a chance for the audience to look at this face, there was a certain amount of buildup to this when the scene finally happens in the second season. But the Halo series actually makes this scene appear quite early and it would have been interesting to see a certain amount of build-up to this moment.
Halo is presently ongoing on Paramount+.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for more content.
Also Watch:
