The long-awaited new “Halo” series has finally started in many countries – including Germany. However, the basic approach of the series might not quite appeal to hardcore fans of the video game template.
Of course, it is by no means unusual that film adaptations of video games do not stick slavishly to their templates, but that something very unique often emerges when they are transferred from one medium to another. However, fans of the “Halo” franchise are used to something different here.
The expansion of the game series, which started in 2001, into other media such as books, comics, and even films, has always served to further expand the existing mythology of the franchise. The individual stories are part of a large coherent sci-fi universe. With the newly launched “Halo” series, the most elaborate adaptation of the hit series to date, this path is now deliberately not taken…
No direct adaptation
Therefore, Halo fans hoping for a one-to-one translation of the games or a further addition to their storyline from the new series might be disappointed by the approach: Halo is not a direct adaptation of any particular part of the expansive template, nor is the series set in the same continuity as the games. Instead, an independent new story is told against a familiar background and with some well-known characters and elements.
In the “Halo” series, too, a bitter war rages between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the Covenant Alien Alliance in the 26th century, with the UNSC super-soldiers led by Master Chief John- 117 (Pablo Schreiber) unsubscribing. However, when John touches a mysterious artifact during a Covenant massacre on a distant planet, he is suddenly struck by mysterious memories. He then breaks free from his superiors and does everything in his power to protect the young survivor Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha), who may hold the key to the Covenant threat and his own past.
That’s why you took liberties
In an interview with, the series showrunner Steven Kane explained the decision to only base himself on the “Halo” mythology, but to follow his own story paths apart from that Variety: “We have [bei der Produktion] didn’t watch the game anymore. We didn’t talk about the game, we talked about the characters and the world, so we never felt limited by the fact that it’s a game.”
Producer Kiki Wolfkill added in an interview with the industry magazine that initially they thought about making an adaptation that was very closely based on the original, but ultimately thought it was better to move away from it:
“We found that clinging to a hair’s breadth with everything that came before was not serving the medium.”, according to Wolfkill. “It also wasn’t conducive to the creative teams and their desire to express a story and build the world with their perspective.”
The liberties that Kane, Wolfkill, and their team have taken (especially with regard to the controversial decision to show the Master Chief without a helmet) may not go down well with everyone. In fact, this approach now allows newcomers to “Halo” to have easier access to the world of the sci-fi franchise on the one hand and hardcore “Halo” fans on the other hand to discover many new things in the series.
Whether the whole thing still feels like “Halo” can now be found out weekly on Sky. A new episode of the eight-part first season of “Halo” always appears on Sky Ticket on Thursday mornings and airs on Sky Atlantic on Fridays at 10:15 p.m. A second season has already been ordered.
