5 things Showtime’s Halo TV series needs to get right

Can Showtime beat the odds and make a good TV show based on Halo, Microsoft’s iconic first-person shooter franchise? Sure, but only if…

Showtime is making a live-action TV show based on the popular Halo video game series. While we wait for an official trailer, we thought we would lay down some of our expectations for the series, which has spent years in development hell but finally looks to be going forward. Fans, us fans will get to see our favorite super soldier and his trusty A.I. companion face-off against the Covenant threat on TV.

It’s exciting, but we have a couple of concerns. From the original Super Mario Bros. movie to a terrible 2005 adaptation of Doom and well beyond, live-action video game adaptations have a shaky history. There are a few exceptions — the first Mortal Kombat movie did a fine job of adapting those characters and the story, and the most recent Sonic the Hedgehog film was a fun ride — but by and large, when you hear “video game adaptation,” alarm bells go off.

So the Halo show has a lot to prove, but greatness — or at least goodness — is in its reach if it keeps a few things in mind.

Let the Chief and Cortana be themselves

Naturally, Master Chief will be a part of the show, played by Orange Is The New Black alum Pablo Schreiber. He should have a pretty easy job. The stoic Chief is rarely up for conversation, to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s going on underneath the helmet he literally always wears. That said, he is known to have a dry sense of humor. This side of him typically comes out when bantering with Cortana.

Recently, Pedro Pascal has proven that a reserved, always-helmeted protagonist can work over on The Mandalorian. Din Djarin isn’t a man of many words, either, but his personality still shines through when he’s interacting with other characters.

And the character Master Chief most often interacts with is Cortana, his snarky A.I. companion. Jen Taylor, who voices Cortana in the games, recently signed on to voice the character in the show, so she should have the personality down. If the showrunners have difficulty writing the character, Taylor knows more than enough to point them in the right direction or even just make up scenes herself. Aside from being sarcastic, Cortana is also intelligent and proud of it. She comes across as more human than Chief sometimes.

Chief and Cortana can be themselves with one another, and bring out the best in each other. Getting their relationship right is key. It’s not enough to make Chief a one-dimensional tough guy or Cortana a robot assistant. They need to play off of each other, be vulnerable with one another, and grow together.