More than 20 years after the first Halo A game that launched on Xbox and changed video games forever, the property has finally made its way to TV. Paramount+ has launched the first episode of Halo Thursday and fans loved the opportunity to see Master Chief come to life. To their surprise, however, the character known for his helmet does not keep this helmet on throughout the first episode.

In one of the last scenes of Halo first, Master Chief removes his helmet to gain the trust of Quan, a young woman whose home was destroyed by the Covenant. Fans might not have expected to see Pablo Schreiber’s face so early in the series, but there’s a good reason why.

“I think when we decided to do the show, our goal was to tell a character story, and we wanted to tell a character story with the Master Chief,” executive producer Kiki Wolfkill recently told ComicBook.com. “And ultimately that meant telling a story about John, the man inside the armor, who isn’t someone you come across as much as a player in games. We’ve described him in extended fiction and he exists in this form, but it’s really a chance for us to spend nine hours taking John through this character arc and so figuring that out, and once we get into the story, he was very clear that we needed to be able to see who that person was, and we needed to be able to look at his journey and watch him on his journey as he struggled with his role as Master Chief and as a person.”

The removal of Master Chief’s helmet in the premiere had to be a big moment, both for the characters and the audience, otherwise it wouldn’t have landed well with fans. Taking that helmet off is a big deal, so there had to be a good reason for John doing it.

“And so with that, doing it like we did right now with Quan, in the same way that there was a reason why he was taking off his helmet, we also wanted it to make sense to the audience” , Wolfkill continued. “We wanted him to take it off for an important reason. And as you pointed out, that moment with Kwan, it’s a moment where he’s trying to gain his trust. “he, as Master Chief necessarily needs. It’s not an essential tool in his toolbox because he’s the Master Chief, and he takes charge and he does what he has to do. And it’s a moment where you start to see him respond in a very human way. And so having that moment related to the helmet coming off was a good complement.”

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