Halo TV Series trailer reveals the Silver timeline – release date set for 24th March

The second trailer for the Halo TV series has aired, giving us another look at the Paramount+ adaptation of the iconic FPS, and announcing a series debut on 24th March 2022. Check it out.

I have… mixed feelings about this.

Anyone with a familiarity with the games will know that this is taking a very different approach to telling the Halo-Covenant war than the video games. Master Chief will still be the main protagonist – sadly missing the familiar voice of Steve Downes, which makes total sense when he’s 71 years old! – but there’s a broader cast surrounding him, and the TV series is set to explore a lot more of Master Chief’s origins than the early Bungie games did.

The series is set before Humanity stumble across the first Halo ring, taking. However, any meaningful differences are explained by the TV series being set in a ‘Silver’ timeline. Master Chief is accompanied by Silver Team, and humanity learns about and knows that they are actively searching for the Halo ring – “Find the Ring, win the war,” is uttered in a manner that feels very like Heroes.

The production values are also rather mixed. You have some pretty high quality CGI and the Elites look great, but then Chief’s armour looks closer to cosplay than military hardware and you can spot some very 21st century vehicles in the backgrounds. Also, why isn’t Cortana blue? And what’s the deal with there being a human antagonist allied with the Covenant? That smacks of needing to keep the CGI budget in check. Oh, and there’s also some kid that Chief saves and… trains?

All of that said, it’s rare that a video game story can be lifted one for one and dropped into a film or TV series. Paramount will have had to make changes and with accessibility to non-gamers in mind. A short run through the original Halo campaign wouldn’t really have done the trick.