Though the second season of the show attempted to rectify some of the vocal backlash it faced, particularly from avid fans of the Halo videogame franchise familiar with the game’s extensive lore and its Season 2 premiere was among the most watched original shows across all streaming platforms — it appears the efforts were too little, too late, as Halo on Paramount+ has been canceled after only two seasons.
A spokesperson from Paramount+ issued the following statement: “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 wish everyone the best going forward.”
343 Industries added, “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.
Master Chief unmasked on the Halo series on Paramount+
“We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world.”
Much of the vocal backlash from Halo videogame fans concerned the depiction of the series’ iconic protagonist John-117, Master Chief. Though Pablo Schreiber wasn’t a bad choice for the genetically enhanced Spartan supersoldier, the character was a vast departure from how he was portrayed in the games; whereas Chief in the games a stoic, highly-decorated bad-ass who was seen as unstoppable by opposing forces and never removed his helmet, the Halo on Paramount+ version seemingly exhibited very little of these qualities, was constantly seen out of armor/sans helmet and didn’t exhibit the game version’s unyielding courage and battle prowess.
The writers and showrunners of Halo on Paramount+ also seemed strangely dismissive of the source material, with Season 1 showrunner Steven Kane being infamously quoted as telling Variety in an interview, “We didn’t look at the game. We didn’t talk about the game. We talked about the characters and the world. So I never felt limited by it being a game.”
What do you think of the news that Halo on Paramount+ has been canceled after only two seasons? What do you think was the biggest contributor to Halo on Paramount+ being canceled? Let us know in the comments.
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