Imagine being a fan of Halo, waiting what feels like decades to see the game brought to live-action, only for it to happen, it be released, and you can’t watch it. That surely happened to some of the faithful this week when Halo debuted on Paramount+, if they weren’t subscribers to the service. But the streamer is hoping everyone will subscribe — and to suck audiences in, it’s dropped the entire first episode on YouTube for free.
Starring the excellent Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Halo follows a team of super-soldiers called Spartans who were created to battle aliens known as the Covenant. There’s obviously much more to the store than that — and there’s no better way to dive in than to watch the show’s first episode.
So, should you continue on with the show? In Gizmodo’s review, Justin says that “Having seen the first two episodes in advance, it’s clear that showrunners Steven Kane and Kyle Killen are very much interested in exploring the Halo universe through a wider lens than the main games have provided. There’s enough faithfulness on display in Halo to prove that this is a show for the fans. But there’s also enough willingness here to shake things up, get a little looser and weirder so it can take the Chief on a great journey of its own that could offer up some fun surprises.”
Plus, if you do invest in Halo, you know the action won’t end with this first season, since Paramount has picked up the show for season two — a strong indicator of the streamer’s confidence in it, as well as a commitment to making Halo a signature genre show on the platform. Think Stranger Things on Netflix, The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, or The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video.