What Pablo Schreiber Really Thinks Of Halo Episode 1's Big Master Chief Reveal
For over 20 years, the "Halo" video game series has kept the face of franchise mascot Master Chief a closely guarded secret. Spartan John 117 (colloquially known as Master Chief) never shows his face in any of the main series "Halo" games, (with the notable exception of the "Halo 4" Legendary Ending, which gave fans the briefest glimpse of his eyes) and there's actually a pretty important reason for that. During a 2012 interview with Eurogamer, 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor asserted that Chief's face remaining hidden was a story device used to allow players to identify more closely with the hero — or, one could say, to see themselves as the Master Chief — similar to how Gordon Freeman of the "Half-Life" games never talks.
The fact is, Chief keeping his helmet on at all times is an integral part of the "Halo" franchise — which is why it was incredibly jarring to see him take his helmet off in the very first episode of Paramount's "Halo" television series.
Even excluding the in-game reason for keeping his helmet on, seeing the face behind the iconic helmet instantly diminishes the mythic status that Master Chief is supposed to hold in the franchise. He is supposed to be more of a legend than a real person: so much so that many of the invading Covenant forces refer to him as a "demon," or genuinely believe him to be a myth. Showing Master Chief's face so early on in the series is a huge departure from the source material, but Master Chief actor Pablo Schreiber seems to think that the change was necessary.
Schreiber believes the scene was necessary for the series to tell its story right
Pablo Schreiber (who serves as both the face and voice of Master Chief in Paramount's "Halo") explained in an interview with GamesRadar why he thinks Chief's decision to remove his helmet made sense. "From a show standpoint, Spartans take off their helmet and take off their armor all the time," Schreiber said. "In the lore and 'Halo' mythology, there's no rules against it, like there are with 'The Mandalorian.'"
Schreiber went on to describe how they decided to reveal his face early to make the audience more comfortable with a helmetless Chief for the remainder of the series. "It felt really necessary to get that out of the way early on in the season," he said.
Master Chief's face reveal comes near the end of the series' inaugural episode, when a survivor of a brutal Covenant attack named Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) aims a gun at his face. According to Schreiber, Chief removing his helmet was meant to show that Chief was on her side and that he was not a threat, and to make her more comfortable around him while they share the ship together. As Schreiber points out, there are several key reasons behind the decision to show Master Chief's true face in Paramount's "Halo" — though one has to wonder whether or not the character will lose some of his mystery now that we all know what he looks like.