Halo Episode 3 Sneak Peek Hints at Cortana's Introduction and Upcoming Fight

The Halo series on Paramount+ is currently releasing new episodes every Thursday, and while the previous two episodes have set everything up for the official arrival of Cortana in the series, a new sneak peek video at what's coming in the soon-to-be-released third episode indicates that Cortana will, in fact, make her first appearance in the new episode. It also offers some significant teases of what's happening beyond that in the new episode.

Warning: there be spoilers for the Halo series on Paramount+ beyond this point.

As seen in previous episodes of Halo, Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) went rogue after encountering an alien artifact on the planet of Madrigal. Following that, UNSC command debated how to keep him under control, and that ultimately led to the approval of the Cortana project. The Covenant, however, have not been idle, and Makee (Charlie Murphy) is apparently out to get the artifact back -- and Master Chief's head in the progress. The video also indicates that Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) wants to return to Madrigal to keep fighting, though Soren (Bokeem Woodbine) is not inclined to let her given he promised Master Chief to keep her safe.

You can check out the new sneak peek video of Halo's third episode for yourself embedded below:

Notably, the design of Cortana in the show is different from her appearance in video games. According to Kiki Wolfkill, 343 Industries' studio head of transmedia and Halo executive producer, this was a natural progression given that her appearance has changed throughout the video games as well based on the available technology.

"A lot of the design changes as we progress[ed] through the game generations was because we had access to better graphics, technology, more pixels, and more effects," said Wolfkill prior to the show's release. "And so it's always been about adapting Cortana to the environment. In this situation, it's so very different from the games in that she has to feel real. And by that, I don't mean feel like a real human. She has to feel like a real AI, a real hologram, and be a character that real people are acting against... That was really the impetus in designing her – how do we make her feel very tangible in this Halo world?"

As noted above, the third episode of the Halo television series is set to release this week on Paramount+ on Thursday. The first two episodes of the series are currently available on the streaming platform. New episodes in general will release on Thursdays. The series stars Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Halsey, Jen Taylor as the voice of Cortana, Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, and more. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming Halo TV show right here. And you can catch Halo directly on Paramount+ right here.

Have you already tried out the Halo series on Paramount+? Are you looking forward to the third episode of the series? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming or television!