It's better to quit while you're ahead
We’ve seen a lot of successful TV adaptations of video games in the last few years, a prime example being the Fallout series which quickly became Amazon’s biggest hit since Rings of Power. But when the Halo show aired on Paramount+ in March 2022, it got a mixed reception. Now, just two seasons in, it’s been cancelled.
As someone who quite excitedly sat down to watch when it first started, and stuck with the show for a whole season, I can’t say I’m surprised that it’s been cancelled so quickly. To say the least, there was a lot of missed potential with the series that I don’t think a third season would mop up.
Paramount+ shared news of the cancellation yesterday, so those waiting to see where Chief gets to next—I’ve got some bad news. Paramount says it’s, ” 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. We wish everyone the best going forward.”
It’s a shame really, because something as legendary as Halo would make a great series when done well. But like we said when the show first aired, the TV series has ‘no vibes’ and its target audience feels a little blurry. Long-time Halo players quickly picked apart the holes in the story and the inaccuracies in characters—don’t even get me started on the whole Master Chief taking off his helmet every five seconds debate. But, even newcomers to the series willing to give the show a chance felt confused at what exactly was going on.
Whether or not the show will be shopped around other outlets is hard to confirm, with a few reports saying that Paramount+ has every intention of finding a new home for the series. But, with a 52% audience score for its first season on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems slightly unlikely that anyone is chomping at the bit to rehome it.
However, despite the poor reception of the first season, the second was met with more positivity. Its 69% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes suggests there was ever so slightly more optimism about what would come next. I jumped off the bandwagon long before it aired, so I can’t comment, but I do know that, for many viewers, it still missed the mark. I think a lot of the negativity is down to its lousy first season, which dug a grave so deep it would’ve taken a miracle to get out of.
Fortunately where the series currently ends is probably as satisfying as it could be (just because I didn’t watch it doesn’t mean I didn’t look up what happens) so at least we can rest assured that we aren’t left on any cliffhangers. Should the TV show eventually get a revival under a different studio I’d be curious to see whether or not it kicks off on the same poor footing, or if it becomes a roaring success and lays its previous seasons to rest. For now, though, I’ll continue to mourn the TV show we could’ve had rather than the TV show we got.
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