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Halo’s new trailer introduces Master Chief and a future war

Blair Marnell
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More than 20 years ago, the first Halo video game made its debut on the original Xbox. It quickly became a fan favorite on the strength of its sci-fi action and epic story. Hollywood took a few stabs at bringing that world to life, but the project has now finally come to fruition with a Halo original series on Paramount+. During the AFC Championship Game, the first full trailer for the show arrived, and it sets the stage for a spectacular intergalactic war.

In the 26th century, humanity is locked in a conflict with an alien threat known as the Covenant. To turn the tide of war, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Natascha McElhone) created the Spartan project. The resulting soldiers are truly superhuman and they follow orders without question. That’s where Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) comes in. He’s the best of the best, a living weapon used by his superiors to enact anything they wish. But as is apparent in the trailer, something has shaken John-117 out of his programming and he’s not blindly following orders anymore.

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Fans of the franchise may have noticed that Jen Taylor is reprising her role as Cortana, the Artificial Intelligence who guides Master Chief on his journey. Physically, Cortana resembles Dr. Halsey because Halsey was her creator. But Cortana truly has a mind of her own, and she will be John-117’s constant companion in the years to come. The trailer also introduces a few of the other Spartan super soldiers. And unlike Master Chief, they’re not shy about taking their helmets off when the battle is done.

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Master Chief gets ready for battle in the Halo TV series.

Yerin Ha also stars in the series as Kwan Ha Boo, with Charlie Murphy as Makee, Shabana Azmi as Adm. Margaret Parangosky, Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066, Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes, Kate Kennedy as Kai-125, Natasha Culzac as Riz-028, Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134, and Rafael Fernandez as Captain Jacob Keyes.

Halo will premiere on March 24 on Paramount+. For more Halo coverage, be sure to check out Digital Trends’ review of Halo: Infinite.

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