Season 2 of Halo was supposed to be a hard reset for the series after a much-lambasted season 1, and now that its Fall of Reach-focused storyline is nearly at an end with the finale coming next week, questions are emerging about whether it will be back for season 3.
The Halo series is bizarre in so many ways. It actually reviews decently well among critics, a 70% for season 1 on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89% for season 2. But in contrast, most Halo fans are constantly lambasting its non-canon storyline and divorcing of John from his armor, especially this season, where he fought the entire Battle of Reach in a t-shirt. But it has been an improved season compared to the first one overall, that much has been clear.
What’s also of note is that the show is a hit by Paramount Plus standards, a streaming service that needs hits more than most. The first episode of the Halo show broke viewership records for Paramount Plus on day one. This season, it’s estimated that the season 2 premiere debuted behind only Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Amazon Prime and Griselda on Netflix with 354 million minutes watched, a solid performance.
What it feels like is that despite the controversies, people are watching, and this is one of Paramount Plus’s flagship series, if not the flagship series, given the performance of its other originals. As such, it stands to reason that more seasons are coming, including a third season. There’s already talk about a long term plan well before this. EP Kiki Wolfkill speaking to Collider:
“You always have to assume the best, right? And you wanna be writing with that long-term view in mind. So, definitely there’s story beyond Season 2. We would love to be able to explore.”
And showrunner David Wiener, who took over during season 2, has similar thoughts:
“I think if you’re true to the story, you wanna leave yourself with doors to walk through at the end. We have a lot. It’s such a huge world. There’s so much of the legacy, of the lore, but also, every solution brings about its own problems at the end of the season, and I think that it’s a great springboard. I hope we get the chance to make more. That’s totally the intention. You do think about it. I would be lying if I said we didn’t.”
Season 2 of Halo was announced before season 1 even aired, but that has not happened with season 3. The downside of Halo for Paramount is that it’s extremely expensive with all its VFX and sets, and that reportedly limited the scope of the recent Battle of Reach we just saw. The plan is reportedly to catch up to the beginning of the original Halo games, starting with Combat Evolved. That game takes place on the Halo Ring that both the UNSC and Covenant have just now located. So, season 3 might begin the events of Combat Evolved. Or at least some alternate universe version of it.
I say…go for it. This is a really strange series but one that I am ultimately enjoying for one reason or another, whether an episode is bad or good or if Master Chief is out of his armor. It amazes me how married they are to that concept. If they want to keep making it, at this point, I’ll keep watching.
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