Halo (Halo:The Series) is an American military science fiction television series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane for the streaming service Paramount+, based on the video game franchise of the same name.
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| Based on | Halo by Xbox Game Studios |
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| Music by | Sean Callery |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
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| Running time | 40–59 minutes |
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| Budget | $90–200 million |
| Release | |
| Original network | Paramount+ |
| Original release | March 24, 2022 – present |
Details –
There are 9 episodes expected from Season 1, which will be released weekly (finishing on the 19th of May). While the show is exclusive to Paramount+, it is available as a paid channel on Amazon Prime Video, and is also included in the Sky bundle for UK viewers. The series takes place during “an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant,” weaving “deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future,” according to a statement by the network.
Cast
- Pablo Schreiber
- Shabana Azmi
- Natasha Culzac
- Olive Gray
- Yerin Ha
- Bentley Kalu
- Kate Kennedy
- Charlie Murphy
- Danny Sapani
- Jen Taylor
- Bokeem Woodbine
- Natascha McElhone
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
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| 1 | “Contact” | Otto Bathurst | Kyle Killen and Steven Kane | March 24, 2022 | |
| In 2552, the Covenant attack an Insurrectionist outpost on the planet Madrigal, massacring everyone except for teenager Kwan Ha before the Spartan unit Silver Team intervenes. In a nearby cave system, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 discovers and retrieves a Forerunner keystone that reacts to his touch, displaying mysterious symbols and unlocking some of his sealed childhood memories. A surviving Covenant Elite witnesses this and reports it to the Prophet of Mercy at the Covenant capital, High Charity. On Reach, Dr. Catherine Halsey clashes with Admiral Parangosky over their methods and Halsey’s work on a new type of AI based on her own brain patterns. After Kwan refuses to cooperate with the UNSC, John is ordered to execute her. He defies the order and rebels, earning Kwan’s trust by taking off his armored helmet when she threatens him with his rifle. UNSC Captain Jacob Keyes orders John to be taken into custody; John touches the keystone again, which disables power in the base while restoring power to his ship, allowing him and Kwan to escape. In the process, John discovers that he had drawn the keystone as a child, suggesting that he has a past connection to it. | |||||
| 2 | “Unbound” | Otto Bathurst | Kyle Killen and Steven Kane | March 31, 2022 | |
| In a flashback, a young John catches Soren, a fellow Spartan, fleeing and allows him to escape. In the present, John takes Kwan and the keystone to the Rubble, an Insurrectionist base carved out of a series of broken asteroids. There, they reunite with Soren, who is now an Insurrectionist leader. On Reach, Halsey faces scrutiny over John’s actions but promises a solution to the problem. Captain Keyes dispatches Silver Team to bring back John, the keystone, and Kwan. On High Charity, the surviving Elite from Madrigal reveals to the Prophets and their ward, a human named Makee, that John activated the relic; despite hesitance from the Prophet of Mercy, Makee insists that she can recover the keystone herself. Back on the Rubble, Soren introduces John to Reth, a deranged hermit who was once held captive by the Covenant. Reth forces John to reveal his ability to activate the keystone and hints that it leads to an alien superweapon of unparalleled destructive power. Shaken by the experience, John leaves Kwan with Soren and surrenders to Silver Team. He is consoled by Halsey, who promises a new beginning for him and awakens a flash clone of herself to create Cortana. | |||||
| 3 | “Emergence” | Roel Reiné | Kyle Killen and Steven Kane | April 7, 2022 | |
| In a flashback, a young Makee is discovered and inadvertently rescued from torture by the Covenant whose Forerunner device reacts to her. In the present, Makee leads a raid on a UNSC corvette in an attempt to find the location of the Madrigal keystone. With the ship’s data erased, Makee travels to Madrigal where the keystone was originally discovered; she leaves transmissions of her orders behind. On the Rubble, Kwan convinces Soren to take her to Madrigal to reunite with Insurrectionists loyal to her father in exchange for a payment of deuterium. On Reach, Parangosky orders Miranda Keyes to study the keystone behind Halsey’s back. Halsey completes the procedure of creating Cortana and places her in John’s brain via a neural implant. Cortana, following Halsey’s instructions, helps John remove a pellet that suppresses his emotions. After John explores some of the cityscape on Reach, he returns to base and touches the keystone again, where he has memories of his parents, his home on Eridanus II, and drawings of the Madrigal keystone and a complementary keystone. Convinced that the second keystone is located on Eridanus II, John and Halsey travel to Eridanus II to investigate. | |||||
| 4 | “Homecoming” | Roel Reiné | Justine Juel Gillmer and Steven Kane | April 14, 2022 | |
| On Reach, Kai-125 removes her emotional suppressor pellet and helps Miranda analyze the Madrigal keystone; Kai and Keyes discover that the keystone is related to a “Sacred Ring” that the Covenant call “Halo”. On Madrigal, Kwan discovers her father’s former allies refuse to help, fearing the Covenant and new UNSC-supported governor Vinsher Grath. Soren’s ship is discovered and confiscated; Kwan goes to her aunt for help and learns of a mystical tribe that may have answers for her. Soren and Kwan escape Grath’s troops and head for the spaceport to leave the planet. On Eridanus II, John, Halsey, and Cortana examine John’s old home and find numerous drawings of the Forerunner keystones. After using Cortana to help recreate his home, John has memories of the location of the second keystone, but also his childhood and a visit from Halsey while his parents were alive. | |||||
| 5 | “Reckoning” | Jonathan Liebesman | Richard E. Robbins and Steven Kane | April 21, 2022 | |
| On Madrigal, Soren ties up Kwan while he goes to find a way off the planet, but Kwan frees herself and steals Soren’s pistol and vehicle. On Eridanus II, the UNSC is preparing to secure the keystone and take it back to Reach. As the UNSC is testing the keystone, it releases energy that alerts Makee and the Covenant to its location. As John continues to question his past, he touches the keystone and has clear memories of Halsey and ONI troops kidnapping him as a child and replacing him with a flash clone of himself; in a rage, he attempts to kill Halsey before Cortana disables him using their mental link. As John awakens and contemplates his newfound knowledge, a Covenant corvette arrives and launches a surprise attack. Despite the efforts of Silver Team, the UNSC suffer heavy casualties, Kai is severely wounded, and the Covenant successfully retrieve the Eridanus II keystone and withdraw. As the Covenant corvette escapes the planet, a drop pod containing Makee is left behind. | |||||
| 6 | “Solace” | Jonathan Liebesman | Silka Luisa and Steven Kane | April 28, 2022 | |
| The surviving UNSC forces of the Eridanus II mission return to Reach. The UNSC takes Makee into their custody; although she claims to have been a prisoner of the Covenant, the UNSC does not trust her, considering that the Covenant are not known to take human prisoners. When John interrogates Makee, she reveals that they are both “blessed” with the ability to activate Forerunner technology. Makee says the likely location of the second keystone is a Covenant holy planet in the Aspero star system. Due to John and Kai’s behavior following their removal of their emotional suppressors, Parangosky replaces Halsey as leader of all ongoing ONI projects with Miranda. John confronts Halsey and learns the true origins of the Spartan program: kidnapping and conscripting children to serve as supersoldiers, replacing them with terminally ill flash clones to alleviate suspicions, and subjecting them to augmentations with risk of deformation or death; John shares this with a recovering Kai. When John tests the Madrigal keystone once more, despite warnings of the possible ill effects it has on his health, he and Makee simultaneously have arrhythmias and seizures, while also sharing a vision of being on a Halo ringworld together. | |||||
| 7 | “Inheritance” | Jessica Lowrey | Steven Kane | May 5, 2022 | |
| While Soren, having returned to the Rubble, engages in space piracy against the UNSC, Kwan ventures into the deserts of Madrigal to track down a reclusive tribe of mystic nomads, hoping for answers about her family’s true purpose. The mystics reveal that when Kwan’s ancestors settled on Madrigal, they were charged by a Forerunner AI with protecting a Forerunner portal that resides somewhere on the planet. Kwan is rejoined by Soren, who came back in order to fulfill his promise to John to look over her, just before the outpost is surrounded by Vinsher Grath and his troops, looking to kill Kwan for the threat that she poses to his power. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Kwan insists upon fighting back. While Soren holds off Grath’s forces, Kwan detonates the outpost’s power supply. The explosion kills Grath and his men; Kwan then pays Soren with money recovered from the outpost’s supplies to honor their original deal. The two part on amicable terms, with Kwan determined to continue her mission and find the portal and take her position as its protector. | |||||
| 8 | “Allegiance” | Jonathan Liebesman | Justine Juel Gillmer and Steven Kane | May 12, 2022 | |
| John begins to view Makee as a potential ally following their shared visions of the Halo, despite the continued doubts of the UNSC as to her loyalty. John learns the Covenant seek the Halo rings to begin their transcendent “Great Journey”. John is able to convince the UNSC to let Makee test the keystone under Miranda’s supervision. John and Makee have sex; noting John’s kindness and similarity to her, Makee begins to reconsider her loyalties. Halsey initiates remote protocols that disable all comms within the UNSC base and places Spartans Riz and Vannak under her direct control, ordering them to capture John, Makee, and the keystone; Cortana chooses at the last second to warn John instead. Riz and Vannak restrain Kai and attempt to fight John, and Miranda uncovers transmissions of Makee leading the attack on the UNSC corvette. After UNSC troopers restrain and taser her (bringing back memories of her youth), she reaffirms her loyalty to the Covenant, frees herself, and touches the keystone, sending shockwaves throughout the UNSC base, before saying her goodbyes to John via another shared vision. | |||||
| 9 | “Transcendence” | Jonathan Liebesman | Steven Kane | May 19, 2022 | |
| While Makee escapes Reach, Silver Team enters into a standoff that is only defused when Captain Keyes arrives and reveals to Vannak and Riz the truth about the Spartan program. Kai helps to apprehend Halsey, but Miranda realizes that the “Halsey” that was captured was actually a flash clone of the real Halsey, who secretly escapes from Reach. With Cortana’s help, John deduces the location of the Covenant planet, Raas Kkhotskha, and leads Silver Team on a mission to recover the Forerunner keystones. On Raas Kkhotskha, Silver Team engages Covenant forces. When John is overwhelmed, Makee activates the combined keystones in order to generate a blast to save John, generating a star map leading to Halo, and inadvertently locking John into stasis. When John tries and fails to talk Makee down using another shared vision, Kai frees John from his trance by shooting Makee, shutting down the keystone before it can show Halo’s location. After John takes a fatal hit, Cortana assumes control of John, rescues Silver Team, and escapes with them and both of the keystones. As they depart, Kai asks John if it is really him behind the helmet, but he only glances at her, wordlessly. | |||||
Production –
- Producers : Sheila Hockin
- Charlotte Keating
- Michael Armbruster
- Cinematography : Karl Walter Lindenlaub
- Eric Kress
- Editors : Aaron Marshall
- Dan Briceno
- Geoff Ashenhurst
- Running time : 40–59 minutes
- Production companies : Showtime Networks, 343 Industries, Amblin Television,
- Chapter Eleven, One Big Picture
- Distributor : Paramount Global Distribution Group
- Budget : $90–200 million