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343 Industries executive producer Kiki Wolfkill opens up about the Master Chief in the Halo television series, teasing how his story will unfold.
343 Industries’ executive producer, Kiki Wolfkill, recently opened up about the Master Chief in the Halo television series, teasing how his story will unfold. Wolfkill has worked at 343 Industries since the studio was founded in 2008 and now oversees the franchise’s transmedia projects. The Halo television series will star Pablo Schreiber as the iconic super-soldier.
Born on a distant colony far from Earth in the 26th Century, John-117 (Schreiber), otherwise known as the Master Chief, is an augmented supersoldier of the SPARTAN-II program. Trained from a young age to face threats to humanity, the Master Chief is biologically enhanced and wears a set of highly advanced power armor, able to be faster, stronger, more agile, and more responsive than a regular human. When the Covenant starts their genocidal campaign on humanity, the Master Chief and the other Spartans become figures of legend to humanity, seen as their hope in their bleakest hour. Wearing an impressive costume, Schreiber already physically captures the iconic Xbox character’s look, and Wolfkill has teased that the series will explore John-117’s darker past.
Speaking at the Paramount+ TCA event, Wolfkill discussed how the show adapted the franchise’s iconic characters and worlds to television. Despite the pressure of the situation, Wolfkill called the experience gratifying, as the crew tried to adapt the series with their own unique, distinctive voice. While they aimed to translate the setting faithfully, Wolfkill emphasized how important it was to them to tell the personal stories of the characters. Focusing specifically on the Master Chief, the producer described the character as the best of humanity, while also lacking a more human side. Wolfkill then stated that an overall theme that the series explores is what the characters will sacrifice in order to save humanity. Check out Wolfkill’s full response below:
« You know, adapting a beloved video game with 20 years of history and story and character development is, it’s a daunting task but it’s also really gratifying. And so for us we really looked at this as how do we take the essence of the game experience and really express it in our own voice, the show’s unique voice. And so with that, we set out to build a huge epic sci-fi 26-century world, with brutal, aliens with Spartan super soldiers, Artificial intelligence military politics, and ancient mystery. But at the same time against that backdrop, really, really trying to tell some very personal stories and explore the humanity or lack thereof and complexity of our characters. And in particular, the Master Chief who, you know, is, is the very best of us but also has had a lot taken away from him. So I think really for us with the season with so much at stake, we really tried to explore, you know, how much of our humanity are we willing to sacrifice in order to save it. »
The Master Chief isn’t the only familiar face, as Smart AI Cortana will make an appearance alongside the Spartan, voiced by her video game voice actress, Jen Taylor. In the game series’ lore, Cortana selects the Master Chief as her partner for a secret mission that is thrown into disarray by the Covenant, leading to the events of the third game. Cortana and the Master Chief build a strong bond across the Halo saga, relying on one another and becoming near inseparable. The trailer has already teased the pair’s partnership, showing Cortana introducing herself to the Spartan, and the Master Chief calling on her to help him.
Despite difficulties during development, 343 Industries are is searching for a showrunner for future Halo seasons, leading to fans wondering how far they will delve into the Master Chief’s psyche. In later games, 343 Industries explored similar themes to what Wolfkill discussed, having the Master Chief be placed in situations where he questioned both his loyalties and whether he is more machine than man. With characters like rogue Spartan defector, Soren (Bokeem Woodbine), showing the secretive, darker side of the Spartan project, audiences may get a glimpse in Halo at the dark deeds taken to ensure humanity’s prosperity.
Source: TCA Winter Press Tour
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