The new Halo show premiered last Thursday on Paramount Plus and sparked mixed feelings from game fans due to the controversial decision to reveal Master Chief’s face in the first episode, according to Screenrant.
Shown in the trailer below, the new Halo show follows the super-soldier John 117 later known as the ‘Master Chief’ in the series canon.
The events of the show, while borrowing characters, events, and settings from the series told in the novel and subsequent video game series, take place outside the canon of the series story at large. Despite this separation, fans of the game series are largely disappointed in the decision to reveal the Master Chief’s face.
Primarily due to the nature of the video game as a medium, Master Chief remains masked throughout virtually the entire game series. This is because the player is intended to be able to project their personality onto the Chief in this way, stepping into the shoes of a super-soldier while riding Warthogs and blasting holes through Brutes.
This aura of mystique and secrecy around the Master Chief of the Halo games, however, is not necessarily shared by that of the character in the new Paramount Plus show, some argue. Those people claim that the show is beginning to tell a story separate from the established ethos of the character of Master Chief from the games, as the show is separate from the main series canon. As such, they argue that this character deserves a clean slate in terms of personality since the show also aims to attract audiences that have not played the games.
The next episode of the series airs this Thursday on Paramount Plus.