'Halo' TV Series Early Review: A Rough Start With The Potential To Be Better

Halo will follow the characters introduced in the series in a separate canon from the games' storyline. Described as "an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure, and a richly imagined vision of the future."

Joining the cast alongside Schreiber will be Natascha McElhone playing Dr. Catherine Halsey, Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, Charlie Murphy as Makee, Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, and Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes.

Jen Taylor reprises her role from the games as Cortana, the aforementioned Artificial Intelligence that accompanies Master Chief on his missions. Their relationship breaks down as Cortana devolves into madness as each game progresses, whether the TV show explores that storyline remains to be seen.

Schreiber will undoubtedly be a good Master Chief when the series ends, but speaking as someone who played the games, it will take some time to get used to his voice rather than Steve Downes. Of course, this is not the fault of Schreiber, but it will certainly be something fans notice almost immediately.

One particular scene in the second episode where Master Chief interrogates someone jumps to mind as a showcase of his talent. The prisoner knows something about the artifact and how it plays into John's past. Schreiber is intense, and you can feel his fury come through as he demands to know what the prisoner knows; not only is he angry, but you can also tell he is confused and scared as well.

Playing Master Chief is no easy task, as he is, well, a relatively robotic human super-soldier that has been psychologically and physically broken down to be a one-man killing machine. Getting any sort of emotion out of a character like that will be a challenge, and Schreiber has succeeded thus far. His struggle with embracing what his uncertain future holds is painted on Schreiber's face, and you know how scared he is of it.

Yerin Ha's character seems to be the show's other primary focus, playing the human rebel turned Master Chief companion, Kwan Ha. Yerin is a relative newcomer, with only a few acting credits to her name, but she plays off Schreiber well. She is a fish out of water attempting to fully grasp the fact that she is roaming the galaxy with a Spartan, someone responsible for the death of her mother.

Natascha McElhone, as Dr. Catherine Halsey, is the person responsible for the Spartan program and believes in them wholeheartedly. She wants to protect them at all costs, and in a scene that she shares with John, she scolds him for his actions since they could be perceived as a threat to her and the program. Halsey has a different agenda planned for John, and McElhone's portrayal is one of the show's strengths.

Noticeably missing from the show has been the iconic theme music of the franchise. Outside of a sampled version present in the intro as well as the end of one of the episodes, we don't hear any of it.

Come on Paramount+, give the people what they want!

Hopefully, it plays into it at some point but for now, feels like a serious missed opportunity right now.

We've only dipped our toes into this version of Halo and there is plenty more to come. The show has had a decent start but has for every up it has had, it's had plenty of noticeable downs.

There are eight episodes of Halo this season with a ton to explore, and we'll definitely be along for the ride.

'Halo' premieres on Paramount+ on March 24th with new episodes dropping weekly on the streaming service.