Some Halo fans have been pretty vocal about their dislike for what Paramount and 343 Industries have done with their new live-action adaptation of the beloved Xbox shooter, but that’s okay—Pablo Schreiber still sends his love. The 43-year-old actor, who plays Master Chief in the series, took to Instagram on Saturday to not only thank those who have supported the show but those who, in his own words, “hated the show before they saw it” and don’t agree with the changes that the showrunners have made against the franchise’s original lore. Schreiber also made sure to point out that he’s a huge fan of the Halo universe, although he admitted in recent interviews that he never even played the Campaign modes, only multiplayer.
“I was familiar with it but more from a peripheral standpoint,” the actor told GameSpot last month. “I didn’t grow up with TV or with video games, so my only access to video games was as a teenager I would go to friend’s houses and play after school. I played Halo a few times but had never played the campaign or the story version. I only played [multiplayer].”
Halo’s Pablo Schreiber Went To Master Chief Boot Camp To Learn About The Franchise (GameSpot)
The actor stars as Master Chief/John-117 in the upcoming Paramount+ series and admits that prior to his casting, he wasn’t all that familiar with Halo. Once he landed the role, though, Schreiber found out just how expansive the Halo story is.
“That really was the shock when I got the job and, and went to 343 for their boot camp–which is basically just like an information download–got as much Halo, backstory, information, and history as I could in about five days,” the actor explained. Bootcamp didn’t end there, though.
“And then they sent me away with this treasure trove of research, which started and was centered around the cinematics of the game, obviously,” Schreiber continued. “From beginning to, end everything that had been established inside the video games I had at my disposal. But then beyond that, they sent me a couple of novels, they sent me some graphic novels, all the animated shorts, all the live-action films. And what I started to realize is just the extent of what has been established in terms of mythology and lore is not only overwhelming, I mean, that’s an obvious word to throw around.”