New Halo TV series trailer shows Spartans, Covenant, and more

By Brendan Lowry
last updated

The show will come to Paramount+ on March 24.

Halo TV Series
Halo TV Series (Image credit: Microsoft / Paramount+)

What you need to know

  • The official trailer for the Halo TV series has debuted.
  • The trailer showed off Master Chief, Spartans, the Covenant, and more.
  • The show will premiere on Mar. 24 and will be exclusively available to watch on the Paramount+ streaming service.

During the halftime break of the AFC Championship football game on Jan. 30, the official trailer for the Halo TV series debuted live. The two-minute trailer gave fans a close look at the show's characters, overall narrative direction, and production value. The trailer also echoed the earlier confirmation that the Halo TV series will premiere on March 24 on the Paramount+ streaming service.

The trailer largely sets the stage for the show's events, showing humanity's struggle to defend themselves against the fearsome Covenant Empire. Master Chief, his Spartan allies, and UNSC Marines are all shown fighting Covenant forces — including both Elites and Jackals — as they assault human settlements. Additionally, the trailer also featured shots of the Covenant's Prophet leaders, Cortana, and a mysterious human character that was raised by the Covenant and is now working against humanity. Master Chief is also shown interacting with Forerunner technology, stating that he "felt something" and that it "felt different" when he interfaced with it.

Plot-wise, it appears that the story will focus on the efforts of Master Chief and the UNSC as they attempt to reach one of the Forerunners' Halo rings, which were used (in the core Halo timeline) to stop the Flood thousands and thousands of years ago. They'll no doubt have to fight Covenant forces along the way, and may possibly cross paths with the woman who is working with the Covenant as well.

Notably, unlike the Halo novels, the Halo TV series will be set in a separate "Silver Timeline" that's very similar to the core Halo canon, but will deviate from the franchise's main story in ways that are both big and small.

Brendan Lowry
Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.

17 Comments
  • Hrm... I never wanted Paramount+ before. This looks pretty damn good though. They've been promoting Disney+ through game pass. Is there any chance they give a free month of Paramount+ when this premiers?
  • I actually recommend it. Paramount+ has been pretty good so far, they have some high quality shows like this one and Evil, and Peacemaker, etc. DC Entertainment and Paramount releases all their shows and movies on there. That'd be awesome if Game Pass offered at least a trial.
  • I will definitely check it out. I found out there's a 7 day trial through Prime which I get by default for free shipping. Don't really watch a lot of shows, mostly just play games in my free time. Do they release their series all at once or are they more traditional TV model because they're CBS? Just curious if I should wait to start the trial or not.
  • Generally new shows seem to be week to week on Paramount and Amazon (occasionally the first bunch of episodes will drop at once, usually three, and then it's an episode a week until it's finished). It's only really Netflix that does the binge model.
  • Peacemaker and the DC catalog are on HBOMAX, not Paramount+. Paramount+ is the renamed CBSAll-ACCESS which never got much traction. It is the newest and smallest of the streaming services. (They don't report solo numbers, only added to SHOWTIME's numbers.) Which doesn't even serve the entire US. Much less the entire world. (VIACOMCBS is cash starved in the competition for subscribers. All they have has been going into TREK. Maybe HALO.) Many places all the app shows is: SIGNUP FOR EMAILS. It will have a smaller audience than it would've on SHOWTIME. Most of what it has is CBS revivals and spinoffs: EVIL was cancelled on CBS, THE GOOD FIGHT was spun off THE GOOD WIFE after the star refused to return, and a CRIMINAL MINDS was revived after a short hiatus. Plus assorted PARAMOUNT movies. And Trek. Best way to watch HALO, if they serve your region, is do what Trek fans do: wait until the last week of the season (there are 10 episodes) subscribe, bunge, quit until next season. Bonus: by then reviews will be out and you'll know if the show works or thuds. If you're not in places where PARAMOUNT+ exists, you'll have to be creative with VPNs or other options. Known supported places as of Dec 2021: United States, Canada - since March 4th, 2021. In addition to those countries, Paramount Plus has recently become available across Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland). No dates given for other places. BTW, PEACEMAKER is crude, violent, and gory.
    Also funny, clever, and very well acted. In short: great.
  • I only just read the second part of your post. Honestly I think you are onto something there in them offering a month or so of P+ through Game Pass perks when this drops.
  • Putting this in a different timeline is the only way to solve the fact Master Chief and Cortana sound.... off. The voices are iconic and you can't just replace them.
  • Cortana's voice is the same, Jen Taylor returned as the voice of Cortana for this series. They just gave her a slightly different look. Master Chief's voice I agree, but it's still not bad.. just will take getting used to adjust.
  • I have always enjoyed the work of the actor they got for Chief (Pablo Schreiber) so I'm not worries about his performance personally, more hoping that the writing is up to snuff.
  • Ngl that's the first thing I checked after I saw the trailer was to see if Jen Taylor was doing the voice of cortana lol On a side note she does the voice of "The Weapon" in Halo Infinite too which is cool. I won't say anything more than that as to not spoil anything but definitely recommend the campaign it is pretty good and has a good story.
  • Cortana probably sounds a bit off because she is older now.
  • Master chief's voice is off but his voice would not translate well to a TV series/movie. Too emotionless
  • They need to change visual/effects for Cortana.
  • Probably don't have the money for that.
    Best guess is she'll be heard a lot more than seen.
  • Not the halo story. Then dont care
  • Season one looks to be mostly prequel.
    They haven't found the first Halo yet.
    (Not sure if Reach has fallen yet.)
    Pillar of Autumn reaching the Halo might be episode 10 or second season.
  • I will wait and see. It looks like it could be good, though.