Pablo Schreiber, lead actor of the Halo series, has continued to push his stance and talk down to fans of the source material who take issue with the divisive show. The series has been heavily criticized for its many diversions from the games, but perhaps no point has come up more often than the decision to keep Master Chief’s helmet off for the vast majority of his time spent on-screen.
In response to such criticisms, Schreiber has repeatedly insisted that Halo fans simply do not understand the show, or that they are being unfair or unrealistic in their expectations. Primarily, he has insisted that it would be impossible to relate to the Master Chief, if he were to be wearing his helmet for much of the series.
Pablo Schreiber Has Chosen a Very Unpopular Stance Among Halo Fans
In a recent interview, Schreiber doubled down on his prior stance. He stated, “People who don’t feel the helmet was necessary to come off, they’re at such an early conception of what the show could be.” He has previously insisted that conveying emotion sans helmet would have been nigh impossible.
In order to examine the discrepancy between these two versions of the character, you can’t tell that story without taking the helmet off. If you don’t agree with the helmet coming off in the show, you don’t like our show. So, there’s no point discussing it.
There is certainly some level of truth to this. Those who dislike the helmet decision are much more likely to dislike the show overall. It is just one of many large deviations from the source material that have resulted in the show failing to appeal to fans of the Halo franchise.
The suggestion that a character cannot emote properly in film has been contested with comparisons to the highly popular series, The Mandalorian. In it, the lead character only removes his helmet on three occasions, and even spends the entire third season without once removing it. Not only have viewers still been able to connect to Din Djarin as a result, but it has, in fact, elevated the character.
Similarly, whilst the character of Master Chief does remove his helmet plenty of times in extended universe media such as books, comics, and even animated films, only once in the games is any portion of his face seen. That portion being his eyes, in a pivotal moment which connects to his arc in Halo 4, and still only in a post-credits scene when the game is beaten on Legendary difficulty. Fans have found no such struggle connecting with the character and understanding the intended emotions thanks to body language, writing, and the framing of scenes.
While Schreiber has admitted to some mistakes the series has made, such as the ill-advised sex scene between his character and a war prisoner that earned him the community nickname “Master Cheeks”, it is comments such as these that suggest not only a lack of respect for fans of the show, but for the franchise as a whole, and even filmmaking as a medium itself.
Perhaps Season 2 of Halo can improve on the series. With a wholly new creative team, the season is primed to depict one of the franchise’s most pivotal moments: the fall of Reach. However, much of the core of what makes the franchise so beloved has already been deeply altered, so only time will tell if it can recover going forward.
What do you think of Schreiber’s comments about the series? Make sure to leave a comment and let us know your thoughts.
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