It's the end of the line for the Master Chief, at least for now. Streamer Paramount+ has decided not to move forward with a third season of its science fiction series Halo. The cancelation comes around four months after the show airing its second season finale in March.
“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. “We wish everyone the best going forward.”
Halo had its ups and downs, and the choice to cancel the series doesn't come as a complete shock. Based on the iconic video game series from Bungie, Halo forged its own path from its source material in a way that often made it divisive to longtime fans of the property.
Nonetheless, it had plenty of solid elements, including its core cast, which included Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Yerin Ha, Joseph Morgan, Shabana Azmi, Kate Kennedy, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac, and Charlie Murphy. Halo's second season was a marked improvement from its first, and according to The Hollywood Reporter it drew in around 1.8 billion minutes of watchtime for Paramount+ during its first five weeks after premiering earlier this year. But since streamers are notoriously cagey, we have no real idea what that meant in terms of the show's success for the platform. Suffice to say it wasn't enough to convince Paramount+ to move forward with season 3.
Halo season 3 could live on somewhere else
According to THR's sources, the studios behind the series, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, Xbox and 343 Industries, will search for a new home for a potential third season of Halo. Should they succeed, the show's third season would likely explore some of the events covered in the original Halo: Combat Evolved video game, since season 2 left off with the Master Chief finally reaching the titular Halo ring world. But until and unless that happens, the Master Chief's adventures are on ice.
“We deeply appreciate the millions of fans who propelled the Halo series to be a global success, and we remain committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future,” reads a statement from 343 Industries. “We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world.”
Both season of Halo are still available to watch in Paramount+ as of this writing.
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