Video games players should recognize the actress who plays Cortana in the Halo TV show. Cortana is easily one of the most popular video game characters in modern gaming, especially for the Xbox. In fact, she became so intertwined with Halo and the Xbox console that Microsoft repurposed her name and voice for their official virtual assistant. So it's no wonder that there's been considerable talk around Cortana's look, origin, and story in the Halo series.
One of the many things that's caused backlash ahead of Cortana's official debut in the Halo TV show is her coloring — Cortana is considerably less blue than she's been in most of the Halo games (she doesn't have a hint of purple either, which was her original color). Furthermore, Cortana looks more human-like than an AI hologram, with less of her code being visible on-screen. A huge part of that is because, unlike being animated in video game form, the Halo TV show attempts to depict the actress' likeness as much as it can — which was made possible due to the fact Cortana was brought to life via motion-capture on set.
While virtually all of Halo's TV actors are new to the franchise, including Master Chief himself, Pablo Schreiber, Cortana is played by the same actress who voiced her in the video games — Jen Taylor. She's voiced Cortana for 21 years now, beginning with Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 and continuing through Halo Infinite in 2021 and the Halo TV series in 2022, with a role in the previous live-action adaptation Halo: Forward Unto Dawn as well. Jen Taylor's work outside of Halo is also considerable, having done voice work in various Star Wars, Left 4 Dead, Super Mario, and Destiny games, among others.
Why Cortana Doesn't Look Like Dr. Halsey In The Halo TV Show
Cortana is meant to be a copy of Dr. Halsey — of both her brain and likeness — but in the Halo TV show, Cortana looks a bit different. Of course, that's because Cortana looks more like Jen Taylor than Dr. Halsey's actress, Natascha McElhone, given the motion-capture usage. Cortana's face and body have changed multiple times in the Halo video games, with her color being only a mild adjustment, but despite how she looks in either Halo's Silver or Blue timelines, her depiction never breaks canon. Cortana can project herself however she likes — it's part of her abilities as an AI, simply put.
Why Cortana Is So Tall In The Halo TV Show
First glimpsed in the promo for Halo episode 3, Cortana is taller than she's appeared in the games — at least, most of the games. Similar to her look, Cortana can change her size and appear taller simply by projecting herself as such. For the purposes of the Halo TV show, it's presumed this is done because Cortana is interfacing directly with Master Chief instead of through traditional means. Cortana appearing taller notably happened towards the end of Halo 4 after Cortana sacrificed herself to save Master Chief. She appeared life-size (similar in height to her appearance in the Halo TV series) because she wanted to say goodbye to John properly — and even touch him for the first time.
New episodes for Halo release Thursdays on Paramount+.