WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED
MASTER CHIEF’S BACK FOR ANOTHER ROUND WITH THE COVENANT IN – BUT FIRST HE NEEDS TO DEAL WITH A FEW ONLINE TROLLS…
ASTER CHIEF’S BATTLE-HARDENED, straight-talking persona must be wearing off on Pablo Schreiber, because the actor – who plays the iconic Spartan warrior in Paramount’s Halo series – does not mince words. For instance, when asked about the first season’s infamous sex scene between Chief, aka John-177, and the undercover Covenant agent Makee, he firmly criticises the narrative decision.
“The decision to make the connection between Makee and John a romantic connection was a huge mistake,” he tells SFX. “I felt it was a huge mistake at the time and I argued against it and fought against it. But I am who I am. I don’t write the scripts. I only give my opinion. It wasn’t listened to.”
He similarly makes his feelings known about fans who were angered when, during the pilot episode, Chief removed his helmet – something that’s never happened in the Halo game series, despite there being six mainline entries.
“People who don’t feel the helmet was necessary to come off, they’re at such an early conception of what the show could be,” he says. “In order to examine the discrepancy between these two versions of the character [Chief and John-117], you can’t tell that story without taking the helmet off. If you don’t agree with the helmet coming off in the show, you don’t like our show. So there’s no point discussing it.” Even the visuals of the first season are not beyond reproach. “I felt it got lost in some gloss. The visuals, for me, just didn’t look as high-end, as classy, as cinematic as they could have been.” And as for the season’s final moments? “The decision to end the season the way we did, I felt brought up a lot of challenges. Where do you go with that?”
Luckily, a lot has changed between seasons. David Wiener – previously showrunner on Brave New World and co-executive producer on Fear The Walking Dead – has come aboard to command Halo’s second season, and the differences are clear from the outset.
The opening episode is strikingly gritty, feeling more akin to Star Wars’ Andor than Ahsoka, and tonally darker and more mature than anything in the first season.
“The tonal shift just feels so much more appropriate for the franchise,” Schreiber says. “It’s darker, it’s more dangerous, all of the stunt and action sequences put you into the battle and inside the fighting. To me, it’s a much more effective way to deal with the show… I think [Wiener] is just a more gifted writer, to be quite frank,” he continues. “I think his dialogue is better. He puts words in the mouth that feel more appropriate for the character.”
