Halo TV series cancelled at Paramount+ after two seasons

The live-action Halo TV series starring Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief John-117 has been axed at Paramount+ after two seasons. The show’s producers have signalled an intention to find the show a new home on a different network, however its prospects do not seem promising.

“We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, along with showrunner and executive producer David Wiener, his fellow executive producers, the entire cast led by Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief and the amazing crew for all their outstanding work,” Paramount+ said in a statement as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “We wish everyone the best going forward.”

The live-action Halo TV series had been in the works since at least 2014, and eventually premiered on Paramount+ in 2021 to somewhat mixed reception. Many fans of the games were critical of the show’s fidelity (or lack thereof) to the source material. This criticism was prominent regarding protagonist Master Chief (who is perpetually masked in the games) taking his helmet off in the show every chance he gets in the adaptation. The fact that the show premiered after The Mandalorian on Disney+, which demonstrated that audiences can in fact relate to a faceless hero, also probably did not help.

While the show’s second season saw a slight improvement in its reception, it evidently wasn’t enough to save the Halo TV series. Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has stated that it remains “committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future“, suggesting that the producers may be shopping around for different networks to pick it up for another season, or perhaps considering other avenues to adapt the property into other media.

At any rate, with the success of The Last of Us on TV and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in cinemas, we aren’t exactly lacking in quality video game adaptations lately. With the show’s mixed critical reception and the current dormancy of Halo as a gaming franchise, it is unlikely that the interest is there to justify another network reviving the show anytime soon.