The Master Chief has met his match as Halo has been canceled on Paramount+ with only two seasons under its belt. The series, based on the popular game franchise that began in 2001, had mixed reviews from the beginning from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. It was either praised or managed to annoy more core fans with its altered storylines. Ironically the low-budget online spoof series Red vs Blue managed to produce over 340 episodes in its 19-year run, although episodes usually only ran 3-6 minutes in length. Variety broke the story with a statement from Paramount+ announcing the show’s cancelation.
Paramount+ Official statement (via Variety):
“Paramount+ can confirm that ‘Halo’ will not move forward with a third season on the service,” the streamer said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries, and Amblin Television, along with showrunner and executive producer David Wiener, his fellow executive producers, the entire cast led by Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief and the amazing crew for all their outstanding work. We wish everyone the best going forward.”
Even though Halo has been canceled by Paramount+ fans of the show still have some hope that it may return on another platform. That could be a challenge given the likely large budget needed for such a show but not impossible if say perhaps, Max, Netflix, or Amazon could lock in a deal and any of them might be able to provide such a budget. It’s been said, via ScreenRant, that each episode cost ~$10 million to produce and Paramount may have spent upwards of $400 million on the series. 343 Industries expressed its gratitude to Amblin and Paramount for giving Halo its debut to streaming while hinting that it is working on finding a new home for the show.
343 Industries statement (via The Hollywood Reporter):
“We deeply appreciate the millions of fans who propelled the Halo series to be a global success, and we remain committed to broadening the Halo universe in different ways in the future,” reads a statement from 343 Industries. “We are grateful to Amblin and Paramount for their partnership in bringing our expansive sci-fi universe to viewers around the world.”