Halo franchise has since grown and evolved with numerous subsequent game entries as well as various spinoff properties, including novels, animated shows, and live-action shows.
After years stuck in development hell, this latest Halo adaptation from Paramount+ promises to finally give fans a worthy take on the source material on a large (and expensive) scale. Starring Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, the Halo show tells the story of a 26th-century war between humans and an alien force known as the Covenant. Initial trailers promise lots of sci-fi action as well as plenty of Easter eggs and references to the original games. In addition to Schreiber, the series stars Bokeem Woodbine, Natasha McElhone, Yerin Ha, Shabani Azmi, Olive Gray, and, reprising her voice acting role from the games, Jen Taylor as Master Chief's AI companion, Cortana.
In a new interview with Variety, Kane reveals that they didn't actually look at the Halo games in order to make the show. Kane explains that, instead, he and the writers delved deep into the characters and the world they were creating, which helped them not feel creatively hampered by what had been done before in the video games. Check out Kane's full comment below:
“We didn’t look at the game. We didn’t talk about the game. We talked about the characters and the world. So I never felt limited by it being a game.”
Interestingly, the Halo show has already been confirmed to not take place in the same timeline as the games. In a blog post several weeks ago, the Halo show's creative team explained that the show would take place in the newly created "Silver Timeline," thus freeing the writers up to more fully explore the world of Halo without being restricted to what had already happened canonically in the games. There are already confirmed to be several major departures from the games, including the fact that Master Chief will be removing his helmet at some point (he never does in the game), and the design of Cortana.
While Kane's statement might worry some fans of the Halo games, trailers, as well as behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews, and blog posts clearly demonstrate that the creative team as a whole has pulled heavily from the video games. from 343 Industries, the studio responsible for many of the games, have acted as consultants on the show, after all. It's likely that Kane, as showrunner, is referring more to how he and writers developed individual plotlines for the show within the pre-established Halo universe instead of suggesting that the games were entirely ignored in all regards. Audiences don't have long to wait to find out, however, with the Halo series set to premiere on Paramount+ on March 24.
Source: Variety