We’re still reeling from last week’s The Last of Us finale, which proved once and for all that HBO’s live-action adaptation did more justice to Naughty Dog’s franchise than we could have ever hoped. Both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were top-notch as Joel and Ellie, respectively, even if they didn’t win the popularity contest at the time the cast was announced. Not to mention the sensational supporting characters in Sarah, Bill, Frank, Marlene, David, and Riley. It was an all-around success for HBO and showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. In fact, The Last of Us has already been renewed for a second season, set to adapt Naughty Dog’s sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. While the buzz surrounding TLoU has yet to die down, gamers are pointing fingers at a much less satisfying adaptation from Paramount Plus: Halo.
Aptly referred to as “probably the biggest wasted opportunity of a gaming franchise,” Paramount Plus’ Halo has come under fire following the resounding success of its HBO counterpart, The Last of Us. Developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane, Halo stars Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, the main protagonist of the Halo series, who’s tasked with protecting humanity from an alien Covenant alongside other cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers. Sadly, Halo was review-bombed upon release, especially by long-time fans who felt the faithfulness to the source material wasn’t as prominent as it should have been, nor had the series been fleshed-out enough to emerge from the shadow of better science-fiction ventures. Not only that, but criticism fell hard on Master Chief, whose live-action portrayal resembled nothing of his video game counterpart.
As PC Gamer reports, Marcus Lehto, one of the co-creators of the first Halo game, even stated the show is “not the Halo I made.” It turns out Halo just wasn’t as refined as many would have liked, essentially struggling to juggle all elements of drama, action, silliness, and seriousness.
There’s no better indication of how badly Halo flopped than the fan reactions, which speak volumes. There seemed to be a common opinion that Halo was an existing project that was reworked to represent the franchise. In that case, it was intended as an entirely separate science-fiction series but underwent rebranding to become Halo down the pipeline. That would explain the lack of accuracy to game-specific details.
Other fans recommend the web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn over whatever disappointment Paramount produced. In just five 15-minute episodes, the amateur production was able to craft a more faithful, entertaining, and visually appealing adaptation than what Paramount — with their otherworldly budget — had achieved. It just goes to show that a passion project will always steal the spotlight from a corporate cash grab.
And then, there’s the matter of all video game adaptations that came before Halo, all of which were just as bad — if not worse. Does anyone even remember the Far Cry movie?
Unfortunately, all the backlash wasn’t enough for Paramount to read the room and get the hint. Halo has been renewed for a second season, but unlike HBO’s The Last of Us, there’s positively no one that cares.