When Paramount released the entirety of Halo series one was free on YouTube, it was clear that a season two trailer was imminent. And here it is, along with a release date: the second season of Halo begins streaming February 8, 2024 on Paramount Plus.
As you can see in the trailer below, it's exciting stuff – and the emphasis seems to be very much on the fighting side, which some fans felt was quite lacking in the first season. At the CCXP festival last week, showrunner David Wiener said there would be more Spartan action scenes than in the first season – it was news that delighted fans watching.
While Paramount is currently keeping the details close to its corporate chest, that's not the case for Master Chief. The character may be famously taciturn in the games, but the actor who plays him on screen is a bit more talkative. Speak with Collider earlier this year, Pablo Schreiber dropped some hints about where season two is going.
What will happen in Halo season two?
According to Schreiber: “We meet a character who has been cut off from his humanity, who has no access to his emotions, who doesn't even have memories of his childhood. It starts there and he has an interaction with an artifact that brings back memories of his childhood.” That has led to speculation that the story will flash back to how a normal human became the half-man, half-tank Master Chief – and that could be a very dark storyline indeed.
It looks like the new season is staying pretty true to the source games. If Giant Freakin Robot points out that the other soldiers in the trailer resemble the game's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Halo 3: ODST and it seems likely that we'll see more of the Flood this time too, although hopefully not in quite the same numbers or for as long as in the infamous library level of Halo: Combat Evolved.
Obviously, season two is the make-or-break season for the show. Season one, which we rate as one of the best Paramount Plus shows, inevitably had to pause the action a bit to introduce the characters and make us care about them – which was a disappointment for many who were hoping for a high-octane action series octane rating. which recreated the tension and killing of the games.
As we said at the time, the first season had an identity problem. It seemed to fall between trying to please two very different audiences – fans and newcomers – without really achieving results. But now that season one has set the tone, season two could deliver everything fans have been craving. It's hoping.
Halo season two will stream on Paramount Plus starting February 8, 2024.