‘Halo’ Canceled At Paramount+ After Two Seasons

Source: Paramount+ / Halo

Master Chief’s time at Paramount+ has come to an end, but Xbox still has hope he will continue the fight on another streaming platform.

After only two seasons, the polarizing Halo television series has been canceled on Paramount+.

In a statement to THR, Paramount+ and the game’s current developer, 343 Industries, said about the show’s cancellation:

“We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, along with showrunner and executive producer David Wiener, his fellow executive producers, the entire cast led by Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief and the amazing crew for all their outstanding work.”

“We deeply appreciate the millions of fans who propelled the Halo series to be a global success and we remain committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future,” added 343 Industries. “We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world.”

Per IGN’s reporting, both Xbox and 343 Industries haven’t given up hope on the video game adaptation. They will make a valiant attempt to shop the series around in hopes of continuing to tell Master Chief’s story.

Halo’s first season premiered in March 2022 and was met with mixed reviews. Major complaints stemmed for Pablo Schreiber’s take on the beloved Spartan soldier, and him constantly taking his helmet off, and being out of his iconic armor, something we don’t see in the games at all.

Halo TV Was Met With Controversy From The Start

HHW Gaming’s Bernard “Beanz” Smalls spoke with Schreiber, who said it was a “huge honor and responsibility” to play Master Chief in the series but also understood why some had reservations.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s backlash or controversy. I always knew that was going to be a part of it because when you take a first-person shooter video game and make it into a television show. Just by the construct of what you’re doing, there’s 50 million people out there who have bought the game, who have played the game as the Master Chief.

So whether they even know that that’s why they don’t want the helmet taken off or not, that’s what’s happening. That’s ownership that you have over the character because you’ve played the game for so long as this character, so everybody in their own way feels like they’re the chief, right? So I always knew that there was going people were going to get upset about taking the helmet off because you’re changing the course of the franchise. The good news is, I think when people see the show, they’ll realize why it was done.

It’s for a long-form television format. You really need to see the face of your character, the protagonist. We have multiple seasons of storytelling that we want to embark on. The whole purpose of doing this show is to humanize John and to learn about the Master Chief in a way that you’ve never gotten to learn about in the games.

Video Game X Reacts To The News of Halo’s Cancellation

As expected, those who have been trashing the show since its first premiere were not surprised at the news, even after season 2 made a valiant effort to address fan criticisms.

“Halo was cancelled after two seasons because its creators did not respect the source material or Halo fans and because Master Chief refused to wear his damn helmet. How hard is it to make a good Halo show? Just stick to what made the games great! Quit trying to make it your own thing. It’s not. Adapt these things faithfully, like Fallout or Arcane or The Last Of Us!,” one user on X, formerley Twitter wrote. 

“I’m not surprised to see the Halo TV series cancelled, it got better in S2 but failed to capture what made Halo great Characters we’ve known for 20 years did things that didn’t make sense, and the fall of Reach essentially happens off camera and with Chief out of his armor If it comes back, do a full reboot and start over with a team that understands Halo,” Kinda Funny and Gametag Radio’s Parris Lilly wrote. 

Beanz’s Thoughts On Halo TV

While most people were down on this show and felt it failed to adhere to the video game’s script, I was a fan.

As someone who played the Halo video games, I always felt Halo’s lore was a confusing mess, especially after the events of Halo 2.

The show simplified things a bit, giving a rather dull character in Master Chief more personality and, most importantly, a face. Pablo Schreiber did a fine job in the role, and I do hope Xbox and 343 Industries can find the show a home because season 2 was very solid, and there is still more story to be told.

No, this show was not on the level of story telling that HBO’s The Last of Us or Fallout were, but it was good if you stack it up against the plethora of other mid video game adaptations.

You can see more reactions in the gallery below.