Bokeem Woodbine, who stars as Soren in the Halo TV show, recently opened up about the difficulties he faced when adjusting to his costume for the show. Woodbine stars alongside Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Yerin Ha, and Charlie Murphy in the sci-fi series. The show is inspired by the hit Xbox FPS series of the same name.
In Halo, Woodbine plays Soren-066, a former Spartan-II supersoldier who defects from the UNSC (United Nations Space Command), setting up his own independent operations among the outer colonies of humanity in the 26th Century. A character first introduced in the story "Pariah" written by B.K. Evenson as part of the "Halo Evolutions" anthology novel, Soren defected from the UNSC after his body rejected the augmentations of the Spartan-II project, going missing after his craft crashes and his fate being left unknown. However, with the Halo TV show having its own separate continuity, Soren has been given a greater role in the universe, and Woodbine has shed some light on his experience working on the show.
While speaking as part of the show's TCA Winter Press Tour , Woodbine opened up about donning the series' iconic Mjolnir armor. Calling the experience a trip, Woodbine discussed his character's desertion, explaining that this can be seen with how he wears his armor. Woodbine then explained that while his armor differs from the other Spartans seen in the show, it was still difficult to wear, with him stating that he had to wear a weight vest for a month and a half to adjust to wearing the armor for the production. Check out Woodbine's recollection below:
The costume is a trip, man. I had it better than other Spartans, because my character, he kind of, you know, went AWOL. So, I have the training and I have a lot of the armor, but I also have a certain amount of freedom in how I put it together. So, my character kind of piecemealed the parts that he thought were less cumbersome and important and kind of, you know, eschewed the other parts. So, I didn't have it as bad as the other guys, and women. But it was intense, you know, putting that on everyday. It wasn't easy. I had to walk around with a weight vest for like a month and a half just to find some kind of, you know, modicum of movement.
As Woodbine stated, his armor differs from the other Spartans seen in the show. practical suits helped enhance the actor's performance.
While Master Chief and the other Spartan's suits are impressive, Soren's costume is a perfect way to separate himself from his fellow Spartans. While they are on the frontlines fighting for the whole of humanity, Soren has his own goals that show the other sides of life in the 26th century, with his costume design reflecting this. Though his Mjolnir armor might have been difficult to adjust to on-set, Woodbine's suit is an impressive costume that perfectly captures the universe of the Halo games for a television audience.
Source: TCA Winter Press Tour