Halo Season 2: All About The Series

Halo Season 2 has already been confirmed and Pablo Schreiber will return as Master Chief.

By James Brizuela | Published

halo series trailer

Paramount+ premiered its brand-new and highly anticipated Halo series on March 22, 2022, with its 9-episode run ending in the middle of May. Although fans have been less than enthusiastic since the series dropped, critics have been more welcoming. Paramount+, though, has already rolled the dice on a Halo Season 2, renewing the series for a second season even before the series dropped.

Getting the series into production for season 2 has proven to be a little more challenging. Issues with weather and future plot points have slowed production a bit but have not shut it down. Here is all we know about Halo Season 2.

Halo Cast

HALO SEASON 2 WILL FOCUS ON HUMANS AVOIDING EXTINCTION

halo tv show

One of the most important elements of the Halo franchise is the threat imposed by an invasion. This invasion is done by an alien race known as the Covenant.

These highly advanced and brutal aliens do all they can to essentially wipe everyone off the face of the planet that they are inhabiting. That was the case for most of the Halo video games and as the first season has since wrapped, it was the case for the Halo series as well.

The premise of this show sees Doctor Hasley (Natascha McElhone) creating super soldiers who are known as Spartans. These Spartans are led by none other than Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) and are humanity’s hope in stopping the invasion of the Covenant, a deadly alien race.

Of course, there is a lot more to it because where there is a doctor, there is usually a lab. Where there is a lab, there are usually experiments. Where there are experiments, there is usually something more sinister going on behind the scenes.

After nine episodes, we now have an idea about what’s been going on and all revolve around the Halo rings that were designed by an ancient race called the Forerunners. These rings were created to kill all life throughout the universe so a parasite, called The Flood, would have nothing to feed on. This could be the direction Season 2 will be going with The Flood.

The focal point of this new series, though, was its focus on Master Chief. While the game’s primary focus was to keep the Chief mysterious in nature, the Paramount+ series chose to show the audience why he is the way he is. This also seems to be the main aspect of the upcoming second season.

The Halo series is meant to show that humanity is truly about to be extinct, and why it was necessary to create super soldiers to protect the world. This same plotline worked for Captain America, so it should work for Master Chief. He is kind of like the Captain America of the video game world. However, war needs to be elevated much higher in the upcoming Halo Season 2. There can’t just be the covenant, so maybe that is why The Flood appeared so quickly.

PABLO SCHREIBER WILL RETURN AS MASTER CHIEF

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One of the most divisive elements from the Halo series was Master Chief removing his helmet. Though Pablo Schreiber is a fantastic actor, taking off the protagonist’s helmet is nearly blasphemy to the game’s fans. This has been one of the most talked-about decisions since the decision was announced.

There are droves of fans that spoke out against it, going so far as to claim they would not even watch the show because of this plot point. The video game series never accomplished this because part of the fun was the player taking on the role of Master Chief while in the first-person perspective.

The new series is meant to dive deeper into who Master Chief is and apparently Halo Season 2 is set to explore that aspect even further.

Pablo Schreiber spoke to Collider and revealed some details about the upcoming Halo Season 2. According to the actor, “We meet a character who’s cut off from his humanity, who doesn’t have access to his emotions, who doesn’t even have memories of his childhood. It starts there and he has an interaction with an artifact that brings back some memories from his childhood. He begins the process of uncovering his own personal history.”

This is interesting, but it appears as if this artifact will tell of how John Spartan essentially became Master Chief. Though he is not named as such in the show, John-117 is his designation, as he is part of the Spartan collective.

This also makes a ton of sense considering there were other soldiers shown in the trailer that looked like the ODST soldiers. These soldiers are the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. This is from the Halo spin-off game, Halo: ODST.

It appears as if Master Chief is meant to be more of an inwardly broken man at this juncture of the show, and now the audience will get to see why he is the way he is in Halo Season 2. Taking off his helmet in the first season was that first step, but now more exposition will be needed to uncover why he stands above the rest of the Spartans.

Master Chief having a damaging childhood would make a ton of sense that leads the man to rise above the rest of his competition. Maybe some of the children or teenagers that were experimented on also didn’t survive. That’s a much darker storyline to go with, but it could happen.

MASTER CHIEF HAD SEX AND IT COULD BE A MUCH BIGGER PART OF THE SHOW

Another major divisive element of season 1 was the fact that Master Chief had sex. The scene appeared in the series’ eighth episode and involved Master Chief and Makee (Charlotte Murphy). Part of the controversy revolved around the simple fact that it was Master Chief losing his virginity and it was a decision executive producer Kiki Wolfkill said they struggled with.

“There was a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and it was a tough one,” Wolfkill said. “I mean, I will say that there’s a lot of different opinions and voices.” The scene, though, was meant to show how important it was for Master Chief to establish a human connection with another. “There’s a lot of different opinions on how to do that,” Wolfkill continued, “and ultimately, we ended up with that path and I think a lot of us feel conflicted about it and that’s not a bad thing.”

So, with Master Chief finding his connection, will there be more in season 2? It is possible. One thing we do know that is coming (no pun intended) in season 2 is The Flood.

WHERE HAS HALO SEASON 2 BEEN FILMED

The obvious setup from season 1 is that Halo fans will be seeing more of The Flood in season 2. How that all shakes out is anyone’s guess, though, as season 1 didn’t necessarily stick to the Halo video game’s game plan. They strayed from storylines and gave Master Chief a much deeper story, so don’t expect any of that to change in season 2.

What will change are the responsibilities of both Schreiber and McElhone. Yes, they are returning to fight the good fight, but they are also coming back as executive producers. It didn’t take long for the pair to have to deal with production issues as the second season began to roll cameras.

Schreiber explained before the shooting began the troubles they were facing. “We’ll be filming again this summer,” Schreiber remarked at the time. “We’re still figuring out exactly what the start date is, but we will be in production by summertime because we have a hard date that we need to be up and running in order to get some location that is weather-affected.” Filming for Halo Season 2 eventually began in Iceland with additional shooting taking place in Budapest, Hungary.

THERE IS NO OFFICIAL HALO SEASON 2 RELEASE DATE

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With season 1 in the books and season 2 already in full production, fans are anxious to see when Paramount+ will premiere Halo Season 2.

Unfortunately, there is no specific date for a premiere, and although fans are anxious, they are also hoping season 2 doesn’t stray too far from its source material.

The writer’s and actor’s strikes have caused delays across the industry and Halo is no exception. It could be quite some time before we see it hit the small screen.