Halo TV Show Canceled

Television

Master Chief is packing up and heading back to Xbox. Variety reports that Paramount+ has canceled the Halo TV series, an adaptation of the popular sci-fi first-person shooter video game. The show aired for two seasons, the second airing this year, but will not return for a third. Variety’s sources tell them the producers will shop it around to other streaming services. Paramount released a statement thanking the cast and crew of the show but giving no reason for its cancellation. Halo starred Pablo Schreiber, Natasha McElhone, Jen Taylor, and Brokeem Woodbine and was produced by Amblin TV, 343 Industries, and Xbox. You can see Paramount’s statement below:

“Paramount+ can confirm that ‘Halo’ will not move forward with a third season on the service… 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.”

I think Halo being canceled points the way forward for the new era of video game adaptations. One of the biggest complaints about the Halo series was that it started too far from the source material, including having Master Chief take his helmet off regularly, something he doesn’t do in the games. This isn’t the only difference, but it’s indicative that the show was not made for Halo fans; as a result, it failed (and probably lost a lot of money that Xbox can’t afford to lose). But a look at the adaptations that do work shows how big an issue this is; The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the two – soon to be three – Sonic the Hedgehog films remained true to their pixelated forebears in theme, tone, and details, and they were huge hits. Sonic the Hedgehog even revamped the Sonic design so that he looked just like he did in the games. This is a microscosm of one of the entertainment industry’s biggest problems: a refusal to give fans of the franchises they continuously adapt what they want, seemingly out of spite. Halo is another example of how everyone loses in this scenario; if it’s adapted again, maybe they’ll remember why the brand is popular in the first place.