Halo TV Show Backlash Is Absurd: It Really Isn't So Different From Canon
Many are complaining Paramount+'s Halo TV show abandons the franchise's lore and mythology - but this particular complaint is ridiculous.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Halo episode 2.
Paramount+'s Halo TV series has received something of a backlash from some video game fans - but their complaints are actually absurd where the games themselves are concerned. Video game adaptations are something of a troubled genre, with many failing to make their mark. In the case of Halo, there have been attempts to create a live-action adaptation - where in the form of a film or TV series - since 2005. The idea has finally become a reality, and a clear success at that; Halo is Paramount+'s most-watched original series in its first 24 hours.
For all that's the case, though, there has been a backlash among some parts of the video game community. The principal complaint appears to be that Halo wasn't quite what some viewers were expecting. Although episode 1 opened with an action sequence that felt as though it was lifted straight from Halo: Combat Evolved, it then moved to a very different arc involving Insurrectionists and renegade Spartan Soren-066. The challenge facing any adaptation is to decide whether to be true to the spirit or the letter of the source material; some lovers of the Halo games clearly feel this show has done neither.
In reality, though, this complaint largely ignores the evolution of Halo as a franchise. It may have begun in 2001 with the legendary Halo: Combat Evolved, generally considered one of the best first-person shooters of all time, but it has grown far beyond that. And it is that wider franchise that Paramount+'s Halo TV series honors.
Halo has always been a transmedia franchise. The first tie-in novel, Eric Nylund's Halo: The Fall of Reach, was published in 2001 and served as a prelude to Halo: Combat Evolved - in 2006, Halo expanded into comics for the first time with a graphic novel adaptation. But the transmedia approach was given new importance when game developer Bonnie Ross founded 343 Industries to take over the franchise after Bungie moved on in 2007. She studied other transmedia franchises, and was particularly impressed with Star Wars, which had built an entire Expanded Universe spinning out of the films. Ross believed this was the future of the Halo franchise, and the next few years saw books and comics come out at an increasing rate.
The games still sit at the core of Halo. But the various tie-ins have created a rich, well-developed universe surrounding the Master Chief, the alien Covenant he faces, and even the Forerunners whose legacy he must explore. These reveal the Master Chief's backstory, the origin of the Spartan program, and details of Covenant society and culture. They set the Human-Covenant War in a greater context, revealing a human race already struggling to deal with the threat of an Insurrectionist movement that risks undermining humanity's expansion across the stars. According to these canon tie-ins, the Spartans were originally created to deal with these Insurrectionists, and they were repurposed when the Covenant arrived.
Paramount+'s Halo TV series is exploring the Master Chief's wider context, drawing on so many ideas from Halo transmedia. The adaptation holds true to the wider Halo lore, and even plot elements that could surprise many viewers, such as Cortana's origin story, are actually surprisingly accurate. There are changes, of course, as few adaptions are exactly the same as the material, but most of the alterations are subtle, and the story purpose for them is pretty easy to see. In the original timeline, for example, the Master Chief never knew what happened to Soren-066 - changing that allows the Paramount+ show to actually use Soren as a character, so it's a necessary difference. The most notable change to date is the introduction of the concept of "Blessed Ones," revealing only a minority of humans possess the ability to activate Forerunner technology; not only does this streamline the narrative, it actually deals with continuity problems from the games themselves, explaining why some random Marines had been unable to use them.
People have been waiting a long time for Halo, and ironically the length of the wait is probably the major problem. Expectations have been building since 2005, and as a result, it was probably impossible for any TV series to live up to them. But matters certainly haven't been helped by the fact that many who complain about the franchise are doing so because they've focused on the core games and thus think the show has entirely made up aspects it has actually taken from the books or comics. Showrunner Steven Kane unwittingly fanned the flames of controversy when he claimed the writers never looked to the Halo games - he was clearly misspeaking, given the opening scenes of episode 1, but unfortunately his words have been taken as gospel. The reality is that Halo does attempt to honor the source material - it simply goes beyond the games alone.
In truth, Halo's writers and showrunners have made the right choice looking beyond the games for their source material. They've rightly intuited that even one of the best first-person shooters of all time has only so much room for world-building and characterization, and that a TV series would need to look elsewhere to be successful in the long-term. It helps that Halo season 1 feels as though it's intended to serve as something of a prologue to the main event, exploring the quest for Forerunner artifacts that would ultimately lead to the discovery of the first Halo Ring. That presumably explains why Paramount+ renewed Halo for a second season before the first had even aired.
All this doesn't mean Paramount+'s Halo is perfect, of course. Some of the story choices work, but some unfortunately feel a little clichéd; they use tropes that have been played out on the small screen so many times before. Characterization is still patchy, and the portrayal of Dr. Halsey is questionable, with some of her decisions feeling inexplicable. And certainly some creative decisions - such as Master Chief removing his helmet so early in the series - should really be open to debate. But these criticisms are based on the show itself, not on the question of whether or not Halo attempts to faithfully honor the franchise's lore.