The Big Picture

Season 2 of Halo brings a darker and more emotional tone, focusing on character and storytelling.
The Covenant are back with a vengeance, portrayed as stronger and scarier in Season 2.
The show’s creators are already thinking about Season 3 and potential storylines in the future.

Despite being a massive hit for Paramount+ when Season 1 debuted, the creatives behind Halo Season 2 have taken the criticisms and the questions and made a shift in tone and their approach to the narrative. According to executive producer and video game developer, Kiki Wolfkill, Season 1 was all about “finding [their] footing” in a universe of vast lore. Bringing on Season 2 showrunner, David Wiener, meant focusing more on the emotional connection to the story, and his vision for the series seems to have made strides for the show’s overall progress.

In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Wolfkill and Wiener discuss what their hopes were when tackling Season 2. They talk about revisiting key elements of the show, like the ferocity of the Covenant and more grounded storytelling, whether Season 2 reaches the rings, and leaving the door open for Season 3.

You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Halo Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown.Release Date March 24, 2022 Creator Steven Kane, Kyle Killen Main Genre Sci-Fi Seasons 2

Read Our ‘Halo’ Season 2 Review

COLLIDER: I saw the first two episodes. I really want to say congrats. They sent me Episodes 3 and 4 like an hour ago, so of course I couldn’t watch them yet, but the first two episodes are really good and they’re really different than Season 1 in terms of the darker tone. Can you touch on that for fans, that it does feel like a different show after the first two episodes?

KIKI WOLFKILL: I think making Season 1, making the show all up, is such a huge endeavor. So much about Season 1 was sort of finding our footing and figuring out what it is to make the show, what it is to bring the universe to life. And I think by the time we got to Season 2, which was literally about half an hour after we wrapped Season 1, we were really clear on what we wanted to do with Season 2 based on the experience of making Season 1. I think with all of the experience of the crew, it was very much about, how do we ensure with Season 2 we’re getting to that emotional connection, we’re making sure the story is a thing that shines through, that character is a thing that shines through, and at the same time, kind of getting back to our Halo roots in that really sort of grounded space? And bringing David on, who had a really specific vision around how to do that, allowed us to achieve it, I think, with Season 2.

The Covenant Are Back With a Vengeance in ‘Halo’ Season 2
Image via Paramount+

David, it does feel like the Covenant are stronger, tougher, more badass in Season 2, and the visuals on them look real good. Can you talk about that?

DAVID WIENER: Yeah, thanks. That was, I think, really important to kind of creating that kinetic visceral feeling of being in the fight. A Covenant Elite is nine-and-a-half feet tall and holding an energy sword — it should be scary. And I think our approach was to kind of lean into that subjective perspective where we’re with our soldiers in the fight, affected by the fog of war, so you’re not always seeing where the enemy is until it’s right on top of you. I mean, even in playing Halo, there is an overlap. There’s that fine line between action and horror, and I think grounding the sequences in that grittier, darker tone helps us lean into that anxiety of what it’s like to be in the fight.

Is ‘Halo’ Season 2 Heading for the Flood?
Image via Paramount

When Joseph Morgan is talking to Cortana about the 97% certainty, are they talking about the Flood? What do you want to tease about what they’re talking about?

WIENER: They’re talking about the steady approach of the Covenant, the encroachment on the outer colonies, which we see at the very beginning, right? So they’re having to evacuate people, and at that point, no one really suspects how close they may be. So, without giving too much away, which you’ll see tonight, she’s gamed out the possibilities, and they’re gonna require some counter moves.

WOLFKILL: The hallmark of Season 2, in Season 1 the fight was very much out in the outer colonies. It felt a little bit distanced. And now, the fight is coming close to home, and I think that’s the sort of pervasive tension through Season 2 that makes it feel a lot darker. So, they’re always running this analysis of, how close are they to finding the seed of humanity?

One of the things a bunch people wanted to know is if we will be going to the ring in Season 2, and I’m actually not sure we are. But based on your smiles, I think we are now. What can you tease?

WIENER: I’d just say that anyone who’s familiar with the franchise, and I mean, it’s the title of the show, I think certainly we’re going to entertain that possibility. And Master Chief’s on the road to understanding really who he is in relationship to this thing, not just as an object but as a symbol, and what it metaphorically means. So, yeah, I mean, that’s where we’re headed.

[Laughs] Got it.

WIENER: I don’t know how to be cagey about it, man.

I mean, it’s been introduced. It’s not like this is foreign stuff if you’re a Halo fan.

‘Halo’ Season 2, Episode 4 Required Filmmaking Excellence to Pull Off

When I was on set, one of the things that I learned, and I don’t know if it’s true, is that maybe one of these episodes could be close to a oner. I don’t know if that ended up happening or not, so I’m just asking you, did Episode 4 or 5 end up being a big action oner type thing?

WIENER: Yeah, in one of our episodes, the fourth episode. And again, it all comes back to that dogma of wanting to be really subjective and with our soldiers in the fight. So, there is a sequence of oners through the majority of that episode — it’s a journey — until we get to where they’re going, which required a lot of filmmaking excellence on the part of our crew and our director on that one, Craig Zisk.

Kiki, it’s really cool that you guys are attempting to do this on a TV show, and I think that it’s one of the things that’s gonna make Season 2 even better than Season 1, but as a producer, what is it like when you all realize, “Maybe we can do this,” because that is not easy to pull off?

WOLFKILL: I think that’s what’s so fun about it. I can remember very few instances where a crazy idea came up where it wasn’t like, “Oh, that’d be cool to figure out.” I think there’s something about trying to deliver on the scale, and frankly the intensity because I think that’s one of the things I would say about Season 2, is you feel it’s a much more intense season. The idea of being able to deliver on something like this, which felt really important to how to tell that story, because that’s at the core of it, it’s never about, “Oh, we want gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks.” It’s, “What an incredible way of delivering on that piece of the story, so we have to figure it out. Let’s figure it out.” Those are the funnest times, honestly.

The ‘Halo’ Team Know Where They Want to Take Season 3
Image via Paramount+

So, I know how long it takes to make a TV show, so I’m just gonna ask, are you guys currently writing any additional scripts for, I don’t know, possibly a third season?

WIENER: We definitely talked about where to go next in the story, and this season ends with a lot of those doors open and those possibilities. There was a work interruption, as you know, in Hollywood, and so that kind of you know, limited the…

WOLFKILL: It was a hitch in the giddyup.

WIENER: Yeah, but I mean, there’s so much potential and so many stories that we wanted to tell, but you just can only fit so much into eight episodes. And, as you know, the universe is vast and I think it’d be super exciting to take it on.

WOLFKILL: There’s a season three story we would love to tell.

Related ‘Halo’ Season 1 Recap: What To Remember Before Season 2 Catch up with Master Chief before the new season.

My question for you is, have any executives at a certain streamer started asking you about saving dates later this year?

WOLFKILL: [Laughs] I would say said streamer is very busy right now.

WIENER: Yeah, that’s true.

That actually is true. In an ideal world, though, if it all comes together, do you see yourself being able to film later this year if you do get a green light on Season 3?

WIENER: I don’t know about getting all the way to filming, but certainly potentially you could get to pre-production. It’s about six months to write a show, at least to get to the point where you’re ready to start prepping it, and then there could be some overlap in those, but it does take a long time, especially a show of this scale.

WOLFKILL: I mean, we’re raring to go. I say that with literally zero hours left in the day because we’re still in post on Season 2 [laughs]. Emotionally, we are raring to go.

I think that’s the reason I don’t have all eight episodes is because you guys are still finishing.

WOLFKILL: Yeah, it’s big.

Halo Season 2 is now available to stream on Paramount+. Subsequent episodes will premiere every Thursday.

Watch on Paramount