Something that "Halo" fans will surely have thoughts about one way or the other is confirmed to be happening in the upcoming TV series adaptation for Paramount+. It has now been confirmed that Master Chief, the protagonist of the highly popular video games since the franchise's inception in 2001, will take his helmet off, revealing his face to the world for the first time (insert gasp noises).
The big news comes to us from IGN, who recently spoke with Kiki Wolfkill, 343 Industries' Studio Head of Transmedia and an executive producer on "Halo," which debuts on the streaming service next month. As she explains it, the notion of showing Master Chief's face, which will be embodied by Pablo Schrieber ("Orange Is the New Black," "Skyscraper"), had to do with the story they are trying to tell.
"I think we set out to tell a character story and a personal story. And once we really got into what that story was, it became clear that you really needed to see the person in the armour and under the helmet… 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."
Let's Face It
Naturally, people are going to be of two minds about this. The producers of "Halo" know it and they acknowledge it. The other thing to consider is that this is a big-budget TV show and not a video game. They are inherently different art forms, and it is tough to imagine going through at least two seasons of a show (given that Paramount+ renewed it already) without seeing the main character's face. Heck, even "The Mandalorian" bailed on Din's religion to show us his face multiple times in that show. This was probably always going to be part of the equation. Now, it comes down to execution.
Steven Kane, Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Otto Bathurst, Toby Leslie, Kyle Killen, Scott Pennington, Wolfkill, Frank O'Connor, and Bonnie Ross are producing the show, which is described somewhat vaguely as "dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant" and promising to "weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future."
The cast also includes Natascha McElhone ("Californication"), Bokeem Woodbine ("Fargo"), Shabana Azmi ("Fire"), Natasha Culzac ("The Witcher"), Olive Gray ("Half Moon Investigations"), Yerin Ha ("Reef Break"), Bentley Kalu ("Avengers: Age of Ultron"), Kate Kennedy ("Catastrophe"), Charlie Murphy ("Peaky Blinders") and Danny Sapani ("Penny Dreadful"). Also joining the cast as original characters are Ryan McParland ("6Degrees"), Burn Gorman ("The Expanse"), and Fiona O'Shaughnessy ("Nina Forever"), with franchise stalwart Jen Taylor reprising her longtime voice acting role as Cortana. It's also worth noting that David Wiener ("Homecoming," "The Killing") will be taking over as showrunner for the show's second season.
"Halo" is set to premiere on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022.
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The post The Halo TV Show Will Reveal Master Chief's Face For the First Time appeared first on /Film.