The Halo series on Paramount Plus has just debuted its trailer for the second season of the show. The first season was bad enough to be a frequent meme, but the second trailer looked actually kind of amazing with its focus on the Fall of Reach and some great, traditional Halo action.
With one exception. The star of the show Pablo Schreiber, is still refusing to keep his helmet on as Master Chief, both seen in the trailer and also in promotional posters. Fans are even photoshopping his helmet back on as a statement of what they’re actually looking for from this series that just utterly refuses to listen to them.
A quote from Schreiber commenting on the lack of Master Chief’s helmet went viral over the weekend, which explains why he thinks the move is necessary for Halo on TV:
“You’re not going to be able to bring an audience along in a long-form story without having access to a character’s face, which tells you what they’re feeling, how they think about everything. That access to a character’s emotional life, over the course of time, is what makes you empathize and connect with a character.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s the only choice for long-form storytelling in television. What I would say to anybody who disagrees with that, I totally respect that opinion. But it’s a pretty basic place to start when you’re talking about making a television show of quality.”
I thought this sounded a little familiar, and I realized that the IGN article that it’s from may have been published this year, but the actual quote is from 2022, before the first season aired. This was near when it was revealed in the first place that Master Chief would show his face. Though at the time, I think most people were expecting a glimpse here and there, not that he would have it off the majority of the time. Or…get fully naked and have sex.
Fans have been roasting Schreiber by posting examples of famous onscreen characters that have done impressive emotional work while masked, from Darth Vader to the currently-airing Mandalorian series. Plus examples of Master Chief himself with great lines and conveyed emotion despite wearing the helmet in the games.
It’s true that in the books Master Chief takes his helmet off, but for the show, this is sort of a “you have to know your audience” thing, and the Halo series, at least last season, very deliberately demonstrated they didn’t really care much for Halo lore or fanbase expectations. While some lessons seem to have been learned from season 1 for season 2, the helmet thing remains a problem to a point where I have to wonder if it’s literally in Schreiber’s contract or something that he needs a certain amount of facetime. In reality, this entire show could have been made with a fully masked Chief played by a stuntman and his game voice, Steve Downes, doing the lines. Clearly, that would have been far better that whatever Schreiber was trying to say about the differences between games and TV.
Regardless of the helmet thing, I hope that season 2 of Halo is a lot better than the first, as I would enjoy not hate-watching it but just…watching it because it’s fun. But yes, after last season, I certainly have my expectations set low.
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