Halo Producer on Master Chief's Controversial Sex Scene: "A Lot of us Feel Conflicted About it"

As Halo comes to a close with its season one finale, one producer looked back on the season and talked about the controversial sex scene. Of course, spoilers will follow for this show, but in episode 8, Master Chief lost his virginity to a Covenant spy while Cortana watched. To say the least, it triggered quite the outrage on social media. The Halo series has been fighting an uphill battle since it began due to pre-conceived ideas of what Halo is thanks to the games and books and the show seemed to want to offer something different. The first bold move the show made was to have Master Chief remove his helmet in episode 1 and reveal his face. Although Master Chief does take off his helmet in the games and books, the audience never sees his complete face. Choices like this caused a disconnect with fans for the entire season, but the sex scene was definitely the biggest controversy.

Speaking to Deadline, 343 Industries employee and Halo executive producer Kiki Wolfkill discussed that the sex scene between Chief and Makee was not an easy discussion and that it has left many conflicted. The team went back and forth about it, ultimately noting that it was an important way to give Chief a human connection with Makee.

"There was a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and it was a tough one," said Wolfkill. "I mean, I will say that there's a lot of different opinions and voices. I will say from my perspective, having the audience getting to understand what it means for him to make sort of a human connection with someone, with Makee, was important. There's a lot of different opinions on how to do that, and ultimately, we ended up with that path and I think a lot of us feel conflicted about it and that's not a bad thing."

Wolfkill also acknowledged the controversy, but stated that she hopes everyone can "rise beyond that" and look to the future of Master Chief's journey.  

"My hope is that we can all sort of rise beyond that and sort of look at where we end up with Chief and with John going into season two," said Wolfkill. "I believe really strongly that we have an amazing story to tell with him and we'll continue to do so, and sometimes as we know with the Silver Timeline that it'll be different than we've seen him before. But who he is as a character both as Master Chief and as John is wholly the same."

Halo has already been greenlit for a second season, but there's no word on when it will begin production or release. Given the reception to the series, it wouldn't be surprising if the team takes some time to reevaluate and look at how it can apply some of the criticisms into the story.

What do you think of the Halo sex scene? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.