This article contains spoilers for Halo season 1.
Executive producer of Halo, Kiki Wolfkill, defends that controversial scene between Master Chief and Makee in season 1’s penultimate episode. Those behind Paramount+’s Halo have made it abundantly clear that the series takes place on the Silver Timeline, which allows them to use existing video game lore and ignore it whenever they deem necessary. That said, Halo has diverged from its beloved IP in several ways, beginning with the decision to have Master Chief/Spartan John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) remove his helmet in episode 1. After only a brief glimpse of his head across all of the games, the series shows a lot more of the character—something exacerbated by the introduction of an original character, Makee (Charlie Murphy).
Makee is, presumably, the only human member of the Covenant and was captured by them as a child. Similar to Chief's capabilities with Forerunner artifacts, her capacity to interact with the ancient technology earned Makee the title "Blessed One" amongst the Covenant. Following a thrilling encounter with the Covenant in Halo episode 5, Makee becomes a willing prisoner of the UNSC. After bonding over their troubled childhoods and shared destiny, Halo episode 8, aptly titled “Allegiance,” sees Chief and Makee have sex while Cortana and Halsey watch. Naturally, this elicited a very strong reaction from fans already thrown by Chief’s face and behind.
In a recent interview with Deadline, executive producer Wolfkill breaks down Halo’s season 1 finale, the already-confirmed second season, and, of course, episode 8. In particular, Wolfkill is asked what she thought about the fandom’s reaction to that love scene, to which she replies, “There was a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and it was a tough one.” Read the rest of what she had to say below:
“I mean, I will say that there’s a lot of different opinions and voices. I will say from my perspective, having the audience getting to understand what it means for him to make sort of a human connection with someone, with Makee, was important. There’s a lot of different opinions on how to do that, and ultimately, we ended up with that path and I think a lot of us feel conflicted about it and that’s not a bad thing.”
“I think ultimately what we’ve been able to deliver on with this season is a Master Chief who is wholly the soldier, and hero, and leader that he has always been and we also leave the season with a character in John who is really a fully defined character. It’s super interesting to be able to see his journey, and you know, admittedly some controversy along the way in getting there.”
“My hope is that we can all sort of rise beyond that and sort of look at where we end up with Chief and with John going into season two. I believe really strongly that we have an amazing story to tell with him and we’ll continue to do so, and sometimes as we know with the Silver Timeline that it’ll be different than we’ve seen him before. But who he is as a character both as Master Chief and as John is wholly the same.”
It’s worth noting that Chief never has an explicit love interest in the Halo games, where his most important relationship is the one he has with Halsey’s flashed-cloned A.I., Cortana. It’s easy to see why hardcore fans are annoyed by what is arguably a shoehorned romance that comes to an abrupt end in Halo’s season 1 finale. The series would’ve likely benefited from developing Chief and Cortana’s trust—which now risks feeling contrived—rather than a two-episode affair featuring a character audiences see massacre soldiers in episode 3 and then die in episode 9.
Chief's ties to Makee as a stereotypical “Chosen One/Blessed One" subvert what franchise fans know of the character. He’s a super-soldier, yes, but what’s most special about him is his tenacity. Halo is at times overly concerned with concepts like destiny/fate while the source material simply puts Chief in impossible situations; John's valued not because of a connection to some artifact but because he is the Master Chief. Thankfully, Halo and Schreiber’s astute performance does establish this aspect of Chief and John as wholly the soldier, hero, leader, and it will undoubtedly be capitalized upon in season 2. Despite a panned subplot, some controversial moments, and science fiction tropes, Halo season 1 contains truly satisfying (and nostalgic) action sequences, an intriguing John/Halsey dynamic, and the inimitable voice of Jen Taylor’s Cortana. Still, it might be wise for Chief to live as a celibate until the series realizes its full potential.
Source: Deadline