Master Chief, played by Pablo Schrieber, will be revealed for the first time in the Halo series from Paramount+.
Kiki Wolfkill, Halo executive producer and Studio Head of Transmedia at 343 Industries, told IGN in an interview that revealing Master Chief’s face is vital for the show’s overarching plot. She explained, “I think we set out to tell a character story and a personal story, and once we really got into what that story was, it became clear that you really needed to see the person in the armor and under the helmet.”
Master Chief‘s face has never been visible in the original Halo video game trilogy, which began with Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001, with the exception of extremely brief views at his eyes or the back of his head in cutscenes. “You’ll see his face,” Wolfkill said. “For some people, it’s been a moment 20 years in the making, and for other people, it is something that feels very hard to imagine. We absolutely respect both sides of that fence, those who really want to see Chief’s face and those who really don’t. But for the nature of this story, it felt really important to connect with the Master Chief in a different way, and that meant showing the face.”
Fans were recently given the first full glimpse at Master Chief’s armor, which will be depicted in live-action by Schreiber, in the run-up to the launch of Halo on Paramount+. He also had a brief appearance in a first-look teaser published by Paramount in December 2021, which showed fans the live-action version of the character’s famous MJOLNIR armor. The biggest challenge with adapting the game is, the game is designed to put you into Chief’s armor,” Wolfkill previously remarked about the Master Chief’s live-action version. “With the show, we’re asking folks to sit back and say, ‘We’re going to portray a side of Chief that you just don’t get to play in the game.'”
Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios released the initial Halo video game trilogy in 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved, followed by Halo 2 in 2004 and Halo 3 in 2007. Bungie left the brand in 2012 after a number of offshoot titles, and 343 Industries has been the developer since then.
The Halo television series was originally set to premiere on Showtime in 2015, with Stephen Spielberg serving as executive producer, but It was continuously pushed back until it finally landed at Paramount, where it was just extended for a second season. Halo launches exclusively on Paramount+ on March 24, 2022, starring Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Yerin Ha, Charlie Murphy, and Jen Taylor.
