Master Chief actor Steve Downes defends canned Halo TV show – “[Fans] were not being realistic”

Paramount’s Halo TV show is now dead after just two seasons much to the delight of some fans. Now, months after its cancellation, original Master Chief actor Steve Downes has revealed that he liked the TV show adaptation and claims certain fans weren’t “realistic” in their complaints about the series. 

Steve Downes defends Halo TV show 

Set in a completely different timeline than the main series with its own canon, Halo fans blasted the TV show even before release for not being a direct adaptation of the games. While the series did make some wild decisions, Downes explains that a TV version of the gaming franchise would never be a 1:1 parallel. 

In a video on his official Facebook page, Downes explained that he liked the TV show, but didn’t agree with every decision. However, the constant fan feedback of the show was not “realistic” in some of its complaints. 

“I knew pretty early on that I was not going to be a part of that,” Downes laughed. “I’m about a foot too short and 20 pounds too heavy.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with every plot twist they decided, but I’m a fan. Certain things I like about it, certain things I don’t like about it.” 

MASTER CHIEF VOICE ACTOR STEVE DOWNES

Downes explained that it’s not easy to directly adapt a game to a TV format, saying: “The landscape of failed adaptations of video games is legendary. Video games and movies are two different mediums.”

“For people who expected Halo to an exact copy minus the ‘shooting’ part of it,” he said mimicking a controller. “[They] were not being realistic. I don’t necessarily agree with every plot twist they decided, but I’m a fan. Certain things I like about it, certain things I don’t like about it.” 

Downes explained that the best decision made by the TV show was in its casting of Cortana. Prior to release, the series had cast someone new in the role of Master Chief’s AI companion before changing to the series’ legacy voice of Jen Taylor. 

“For me, what holds the whole thing together is that Jen Taylor, who plays Cortana, is in it,” the actor said. “That was not always the case in the beginning, but they came to their senses and decided that Jen is Cortana. And she is. If you don’t use Jen Taylor as Cortana, you’re nuts.”

The Halo TV show lasted two seasons, with the second being vastly superior to the first. For now, the series has been cancelled, despite high viewership on the Paramount Plus platform. With multiple new Halo games in the works, potentially even remaking Combat Evolved, Xbox’s flagship series is hopefully on its way back into the limelight. 

For more Halo news, read about how the games’ iconic multiplayer announcer lost the role of Master Chief or how none of the series’ voice actors are aware of the new games in development.