When Halo premieres on Paramount+ later this week on March 24th, it will put a face to Master Chief in a very real way. Actor Pablo Schreiber portrays the character in the adaptation, and while Master Chief isn’t known for removing his helmet or otherwise showing much in the way of skin, the show isn’t following exactly the same rules as the rest of the franchise. ComicBook.com recently had the opportunity to ask Schreiber about portraying the Master Chief and giving the character a real face to the name while at SXSW.
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“No, it’s not nerve-wracking. It feels really exciting,” said Schreiber when asked about removing Master Chief’s helmet in the series and whether he was nervous about showing his face. “It’s tailoring the entertainment for the medium, right? Halo is a first-person shooter game, and so Chief has always been kept as a symbol, a very vague character that you don’t really get to know because you’re meant to be him. You put yourself in that position and fill out all the details of the personality with your own.”
Schreiber continued: “We’re making a TV show and in order to have an audience connect with the character over the course of a long-term TV show, there’s no way you can pull an audience through that without getting to know the character, without relating to the character, without empathizing with the character. And that feels virtually impossible to do with a helmet on all the time.”
According to Schreiber, there’s a lot built into the history of the franchise that perhaps hasn’t been showcased due to the nature of the medium. “The only rule about not taking your helmet off [for Spartans] is the one about Chief not taking his off because you’re meant to believe you’re him,” he said. “So this is a new form of entertainment, it’s a new medium. It’s a chance for people who have played as Chief for so long to put the controller down, sit back on the couch, enjoy the experience of learning about the Chief in a way that you have never done before. And I think it’s an opportunity for all of us to get to know him in a better way.”
The upcoming Halo television series is set to land on Paramount+ on March 24th. The series stars Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Halsey, Jen Taylor as the voice of Cortana, and more. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming Halo TV show right here.
What do you think about what Schreiber has to say about Master Chief taking off his helmet in the show? Are you excited to check out the series later this week? 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!
