Halo TV series canon will be separate from the games

The Halo franchise celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year, which makes it all the more surprising that only now are we getting our first proper live-action adaptation of the iconic video game. The much-anticipated Halo TV series will debut on Paramount+ early next year, but it seems that it will form its own canon separate from the games.

Kiki Wolfkill, 343’s head of transmedia, explained in a video interview posted on Twitter that the Halo TV series will take place in a different timeline from the games.

We do have some context and perspective that is different from some of those stories that we’ve experienced or read about in the games. We’re referring to this as the Halo Silver Timeline as a way of differentiating it from core canon. And both protecting core canon and protecting the television story, and by that I mean being able to give ourselves the chance to evolve both and for both to be what they need to be for their mediums without colliding with each other.

A TV series isn’t the same beast as a video game, and when you combine the sprawling mythology of Halo that’s spread across the games, books, comics and more, it would have been quite the task to make it all fit into the TV series while still adhering to canon. The official synopsis for the Halo TV series reads: “Earth’s most advanced warrior in the 26th century and the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant, an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity.“

The Halo TV series stars Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, with Natasha McElhone as Dr. Halsey, “the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers”; Jen Taylor as Cortana, “the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race”; and newcomer Yerin Ha as a new character named Quan Ah, “a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both.” Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, and Danny Sapani will also be appearing on the show.