Spartans, get ready to head into battle with the Covenant at the end of March. We've gathered everything you need to know about the upcoming Halo series on Paramount+.

The Master Chief's path to his own series was almost as complex and fraught as his missions across the Halo network. The game "Halo: Combat Evolved" on Xbox was a sensation back in 2001 – with an interesting recognizable character, innovative gameplay, and a strong storyline for a first-person shooter. Now it's a whole universe: books, graphic novels, comics, short films, animated movies.

The long-awaited series for fans will premiere on March 25 on Paramount+. Russian-speaking viewers will be able to watch the project on "Kinopoisk" and "Amediateka." Moreover, even before the release of the first season, the series was renewed for a second, and they have big plans for it.

What is the universe about?

The original game universe begins by telling the story of a war between humans, represented by the United Nations Space Command, and a religious alliance of several alien races called the Covenant. Humans are losing the war, but their last hope is the SPARTAN-II program – physically enhanced soldiers who become the most effective weapon against the aliens.

What is the series about?

The events of the series will unfold in an alternate "Silver Timeline." The plot will not touch any of the already released games. "We call it the Halo Silver timeline to distinguish it from the main canon," said Wolfkill. According to her, the creators thus want to "protect both the main canon and the television story," allowing them to develop without intersecting with each other.

Synopsis: The action takes place in the 26th century and covers the beginning of the war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant Empire. The main character of the series is Spartan John-117, who must stop the impending extermination of the human race. He is the Master Chief. The only hope for victory.

Why a series and not a movie?

The producers note that twenty years of plot development in games and characters could not be transferred to the screen in a small format. Also, a full immersion into the universe would not have been possible. The series became the optimal choice for an epic high-budget science fiction world. Here, not only confrontations between aliens and super-soldiers are expected, but also themes of politics, relationships between people, artificial intelligence, and unraveling ancient mysteries. The creators promise to immerse viewers in the story of the main character to explain why he became humanity's hope.

How did the project make it to the screen?

Not only did the coronavirus slow down the production of the series, but the project itself had been "stalling" for several years. To begin with, back in 2005, a team of producers and directors including Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings"), Guillermo del Toro ("Pacific Rim"), and Neill Blomkamp ("District 9") wanted to launch a Halo film. Despite the merger of two studios, financing issues arose. The ambitions were too big, and the project stalled.

Then several animated shorts, an anime, and even a web series that earned an Emmy nomination were released. But the feature-length project did not move forward. In 2013, Microsoft formed an alliance with Steven Spielberg, who took on producing it, and the series was planned for release on Showtime.

The production phase of the project only began in 2018, but after a few months, the team realized that the platform needed to change. So the series was moved to Paramount Plus – it is expected to become a major flagship for the streaming service. There were also advantages to this delay: they promise better quality of filming and editing of episodes, and during this time, the voice actress from the original game series managed to join the series.

It is rumored that Steven Spielberg became so involved in the project that he personally contributed to the script, casting, and many other processes.

What about details and Easter eggs?

They promise many, especially book fans will be delighted. The show will also feature planets that were not in the games, but familiar ones will appear — Arizona and "The Shard." Among the characters, Cortana, Dr. Halsey, Miranda, and Jacob Keyes have already been spotted.

Who are the Spartans?

"Spartan" is the name of a program, or more precisely a series of projects, within which physically, genetically, technologically, and morally perfect super-soldiers were created as an elite fighting force. In the early stages, children were selected for the program, and its graduates were called Spartans. And yes, the name is given in honor of the Spartans of Ancient Greece. Their "perks" – exoskeleton, reinforced armor, modern combat technologies.

Who is the Master Chief?

Master Chief Petty Officer or John-117 is a Spartan, one of the best and most honored warriors. As a child, he was assessed as an ideal candidate in terms of physiological and psychological indicators, and also surpassed his peers in height, build, strength, and possessed superior reflexes coupled with an aggressive drive for success. By nature, he is not particularly emotional or sensitive, rather more reserved, taciturn, always doing his duty, a man of his word, but can joke when needed. Does he remind you of anyone? That's right, almost like The Mandalorian. And yes, he also didn't take off his "helmet" in the game.

He will be played by Pablo Schreiber, known to us from the series "American Gods", "Orange Is the New Black", "Defending Jacob" and the films "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi", "The Man on the Moon". It is worth noting that this choice pleased the game's fans. Some even objected to the fact that we would not see the actor's face hidden under the mask. Something fans of "The Mandalorian" also feared. But don't worry – the creators of the series have deviated from the canon, although they promise it will be logically explained. In interviews, Pablo Schreiber himself compared the setup of the first episodes of "Halo" to "The Mandalorian."

Here's how the producers respond to fans:

I'll start by saying that the decision to take off Chief's helmet was not easy, and it was not predetermined when we started creating the show. Nevertheless, our goal has always been to deliver a new experience to viewers, an opportunity to understand the characters a little deeper (…) I have great respect for the fact that Chief exists in everyone's mind, a character largely defined by our own interactive experience. In a television series, we want to introduce you to John's journey and allow you, as a viewer, to experience his story and evolution from an external, subjective point of view; and for that, it was important to see John without his armor. We have done this in the past: in books and some other projects, but this is certainly the first most visually rich example.

An exclusive video on how the character's armor was created can be watched here.

Conclusion

It seems that the series will try to replicate the success of "The Mandalorian," while opening a new world for science fiction fans and immersing some in a familiar one. The first reviews from screenings are quite positive. And the allocation of a new canon will even benefit the creators, because then you can't really nitpick the plot. Still, as loyal fans, we will be waiting for the best experience after watching the long-awaited adaptation.