Master Chief not starring in Halo movie?

  • By Polybren, GameSpot
  • Posted Jan 16, 2008 5:06 pm PT

When news of a Halo feature film first broke in 2005, gamers' thoughts turned to an epic sci-fi action film following the iconic Master Chief in his quest to protect humankind from the encroaching forces of the alien Covenant. Although the film has reportedly gone in and out of limbo since that...

When news of a Halo feature film first broke in 2005, gamers' thoughts turned to an epic sci-fi action film following the iconic Master Chief in his quest to protect humankind from the encroaching forces of the alien Covenant. Although the film has reportedly gone in and out of limbo since that time, it appears that such a story about the Master Chief was never going to be told, even if the film had been made.

Speaking to N'Gai Croal for a Newsweek article that was every bit as aborted as the Halo film, Bungie writing director Joseph Staten briefly drew back the conceptual curtain on the project and explained how the Master Chief would be integrated into the story. Given that the character in the games is essentially a blank slate and his face is never revealed, the writers felt it would be difficult to have him carry the film as the protagonist.

"In the film," Staten explained, "the other characters begin to comment on Master Chief's anonymity, like 'Who is he?' and 'What's his story?' He becomes a really wonderful source of mystery, a sort of anonymous problem solver. So we definitely worked on that. In the final version of the script the Master Chief was certainly absolutely critical to the film, but there were other characters around him which carried most of it, that did most of the emotional heavy lifting. The Master Chief was there in support of their story."

For more from Staten, check out Croal's expanded interview with the Halo scribe.

526 Comments

  • johnryandaplin

    Posted Jul 26, 2009 3:40 pm PT

    @jdsk8rboy

    r u freaking crazy?

  • greekfreak223

    Posted Jul 8, 2009 1:05 am PT

    jdsk8rboy, you are obviously a noob and didn't finish the game on legendary.

  • CrimsonBlade541

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 3:05 pm PT

    He IS starring in the movie. Watch the first 8 minutes. They show you master cheif and the arbiter falling from the sky like in the game. I looked it up and it isn't focusing on them through the whole thing, but they both are the main characters. The movie focuses on them and the marines with them.

  • devilhun7er

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 10:53 am PT

    Thats Lame MasterChief is Boss he should be the Main Character.

  • GamerankingsUK

    Posted Mar 21, 2009 12:57 pm PT

    MC never died he froze himself.

  • jdsk8rboy

    Posted Feb 19, 2009 4:32 pm PT

    sounds nice. they should have the main character be in war and stuff, and be in lotsa battles with MC. but only get glimpses of him til the end, then in the end they could do like the ending of halo 3 and have the main character on the ship when mc dies,but twist it around and have them have a conversation before he dies. ftw

  • elcamote

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 3:35 pm PT

    there are books and they explain everything, they should base the movien on the first book called *fall of reach* that would be awesome.

  • noah-ninjaface

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 10:58 pm PT

    I believe that have the master chief as the protagonist of the story would only ruin what the games have created. Basing the movie entirely on him would put a lot of pressure on bungie to go further in to his personality and his past which would potentially ruin any further games or even the ones that are already out.
    explaining the origins of the war between the humans and the covenant and shading more light on the spartans would be much better, don't you agree?

  • filthie

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 3:47 pm PT

    there is no halo without master chief

  • RaiderNic99

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 4:28 am PT

    First off the games story lines make complete sense if you pay attention. The big plant wasn't a plant at all. It was a GRAVEMIND, one of many(but only one at a time could exist), of the controlling brains of the FLOOD. Second of all, since the ELITES joined with the HUMANS......they had the military might necessary to win the war against the COVENANT. Remember in Halo 3 when they go through the portal on Earth to follow TRUTH.....only a handful of Elite ships went through while a whole armada of Brute ships went through and were waiting on the other side to ambush. Also recall that HALF-JAW or the SHIP-MASTER was told that they were out numbered 3 to 1 which would mean like 9 vs 3.....whatever the number the ELITES still won. So basically after the ELITES left the COVENANT, said COVENANT lost all of their military might. The ELITES made up over half of the COVENANTS military power. The ships, weapons, vehicles, and foot soldiers were 75% ELITES, the rest of course were GRUNTS, HUNTERS, JACKALS, and so on. Also Master Chief didn't really make it.....he ended up over either the Forerunners home world or the Third Race planet(that was one part left to some speculation). Oh and the plots of Keyes's daughter dying was there only to add emotion and Johnson dying was hard on Chief because he was very close to Johnson. Also if the movie does come out it is going to be based more upon the books than the games. The books had way more epic things than the games anyways. If you would like to know more then please email me sometime and I can explain anything you didn't understand!

  • Hicks_1

    Posted Jul 28, 2008 9:05 am PT

    There is a very simple why this movie stalled, the plot makes absolutely no sense. In halo, the plot did flow properly and it was very obvious that bungie did not expect to make anymore of these games. However, did everyone forget about the giant Venus fly trap in the second halo game?? What that means to a larger nongamer audience is suck fest. Also the plot of the third was even worse with the two human characters Daughter of keene, and gibson dying needlessly. Also, the hell happened with the war with the covenant. Did this third halo battle really stop the supposedly massive covenant juggernaut? What about the brutes and the dissant they caused? The point of these questions is that noone knows it wasn't explained to us, all we know is that the flood was defeated and Master chief made it. And if humanity won the war with the alien scum how did it happen? What really disapponited me was the storyboard thought this game was given. Simply put the commericals that came before this game had more plot then the game itself. The commerical with the diaroma and the plasma nade would have made an epic level and an epic ending. Overall, don't expect this movie to come out with the same plot as the games because the plot of the games was too dialuded.

  • VelociBlade

    Posted Jul 27, 2008 9:51 pm PT

    This is why games, books, and movies should stay in their original format. If you take it from one format to another, it loses quality. Needles to say, here's my prediction: The Halo movie will noot be good.

  • sarroth

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 7:50 pm PT

    Darth Vader had a lot of emotional wait with his helmet on; shouldn't be that hard 30 years later to do the same thing. Dumb. Besides, clearly Pixar could make a faceless character have emotion. Make a Halo movie with Master Chief. End of story.

  • Ghost_loy

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 7:56 pm PT

    To all the people saying "omfg teh chief has to be hear!" did you even read the article or just the title? here is a line taking from the article...
    "The Master Chief was there in support of their story." That make s it seem like the chief will be their just to show up maybe in one battle or something then be gone......

  • MicroUzi9

    Posted Jul 6, 2008 4:39 am PT

    Thats stupid. Master Chief is the main character of the halo trilogy, and Master Chief doesn't take his helmet off anyway.

  • xxxBLaZiN

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:21 pm PT

    They Shud Make Master Chief In The Movie Or It Just Wont Be As Good As It Should Be. Vin Diesal Would Of Been A Good Master Chief Aswell Its A Shame They Wont Bring Mc Into The Movie

  • taggerung000

    Posted Jun 6, 2008 4:02 pm PT

    lol do it like vader's character was, one actor the body, one the voice, one the breathing.(lol.. like if the voice of the master chief from the game didnt have 'the look') also.. GO READ THE BOOK! they are all great(though they do all have the MC kicking covenant's faces in.. lol

  • Erica_999

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 9:57 am PT

    We already know master chief story of halo anyway. They should of made the film when they first got the idea and the script. So are they going to make an alternate ending? I would still like 'master chief' to have a role in the film. Are they still going to make the film though?

  • hfrizado

    Posted Feb 19, 2008 1:40 pm PT

    To everyone who thinks Master Chief is the Halo series:

    yes yes, master chief saves earth, but what about johnson, cortana, The Arbiter and everyone else, whom actually saves master chief at one point throughout halo 1- 3....... yes master chief is a big part of the plot but really if u analyze Halo.....its a war between two races, the covenant and the humans not chief and the covenant, like what about initial conteact between the two races? that would be awesome

    yes i admit chief took it to em'

    but what about before chief and his legacy? what happened there?

    when it comes out buy Halo Wars
    the way i see it.....Master chief to Halo is just a small chapter in the whole Halo series........kinda like Atilla the Hun is part of a small chapter in history, they both did amazing things just there's just so much more things u could focus on

    all im saying there's so much more to Halo than just Master Chief

  • speedster38

    Posted Feb 16, 2008 10:59 am PT

    the halo movie could sertanly do good without a master cheif but the whole idea of not haveing a MC is just going to end with a horrible movie. I mean the idea of folowing a charicter with less lines than a dead grunt would just be uterly unsatisfying and in the end I would rather have a movie folowing the marines and elites that help MC and their perspective and role on what they think about him and how they help because it wasn't just one guy who saved the universe they all played an important part in the game, so why not the movie.

  • REgrl4life

    Posted Feb 14, 2008 3:57 pm PT

    Just to be fair, i wont see it if master cheif not in it.

  • kileeeeeer

    Posted Feb 8, 2008 1:33 pm PT

    master chief is the main character of halo.the game is all about master chief with out him the game will be nothing

  • sephiroth_god

    Posted Feb 7, 2008 2:18 pm PT

    if they make a movie i think it would be way better all done in CGI instead of half CGI and the other real people like some trailer on youtube. but i also agree that even though the master chief doesn't say much in the games i find a movie without him it is pointless. Like sure all he says is one liners in the games that doesn't mean the movie would have to copy this. All i have to say is Flashbacks of past memory like we all know the the Master Chief is like a Cyborg half person and half robotics under his armour shield so he would have to have some memorys of before he commited himself to the MARK suite. And what about the history of Cortana one of the games most talkative feature i would liek to know about her story of creation aswell. i have more to say but i'm bored so i am going off to play some Halo3 cya

  • Arc-Angel-31X

    Posted Feb 2, 2008 2:27 pm PT

    Halo without master chief just doesn't seem like Halo to me. Even if it says in the end he will become a major part of the film I still think that it should revolve more around the guy that started the series you know what I mean.

  • Luminoustimez2

    Posted Jan 30, 2008 9:48 am PT

    Personally I think it's a good idea that Master Chief wasn't the entire story for the movie. Too many game to movie adaptations completely f'k up the story when they base the screenplay completely off the gamet. If they went a different route and explained, say, the Marine's view of the war that was occuring around them, I think it'd make for a great film. Halo was ORIGINALLY not supposed to be solely about the Master Chief but about the human's conflict with the covenant in general

  • gmreedy

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 1:14 pm PT

    wow! if the writers read "Halo: Fall of Reach", they would know everything about Master Chief's backround. (and at the end of Halo 3? hello? JOHN is his name.*UNSUBTLE HINT*) talk about movie writers being absolutely downright stupid and stubborn to not even realize that there has been 4-5 books written about the story behind Halo.

  • monkeyidol

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 12:13 pm PT

    it doesnt say hes not in the film, they agreed he's critical to the storyline. maybe the movie has masterchief but not as the protagonist...it could be based on like miranda keyes or johnson or watever but masterchief will be there to kick ass.

  • brandabob

    Posted Jan 26, 2008 6:20 pm PT

    Im a huge halo fan and all, but if you actually think about it for a while,
    it does make a little sense. I mean if it was only about MC, then how would they make the movie like that? Just command giving MC a mission and then just showing him doing that mission where he almost never talks and stuff? That's why you would need to mix it up a little, otherwise there would be no emotion or anything.

    Movie gonna rock whatever happens though

  • powah_serge

    Posted Jan 26, 2008 12:18 pm PT

    well, this can either make or break it because a movie with master chief will mostly get a 6/10 rating at best but without master chief but in the halo universe gives it the potential to be good but it always has the potential to suck!

  • halo2maniac5819

    Posted Jan 24, 2008 9:07 pm PT

    It should be like First Strike, no main character, and the books had a great storyline,

  • gearsofwarlord

    Posted Jan 24, 2008 6:14 pm PT

    there has to be master chief

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Jan 24, 2008 6:08 pm PT

    Halo is not directly connected to Master Chief. I would love to see a movie just about Seargent Major Avery Johnson. Or maybe even Dr. Halsey and the other Spartans, or hell, even the first encounter with the Covenant follwoing the story of Jacob Keyes. It is NOT JUST ABOUT the MASTER CHIEF. God, they come up with a good, fresh idea, and people call it herecy.

  • Wububub

    Posted Jan 24, 2008 3:43 pm PT

    With Master Chief as the main character, the movie would be nothing but mindless slaughtering, enriched by a few solitary moments of waiting for your shields to recharge. Having it told from f.ex. a marine's point of view would make it much more interesting.

    I think it would be cool to see a story of the Librarian, Didact and Mendicant Bias or a story about the forerunner's general campaigning against the flood. Now that would be a good Halo-movie!

  • Gundabad1

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 5:47 pm PT

    That actually amkes alot of sense.
    people who said he wouldnt be in it obviously cant read, because he is gonna be in it, just in a more appropriate role.
    If you think about it it'd be very hard to carve an emotional story around someone with a monotone voice and no face...

    and canitbe ur retarted if you think there was no story in the game, there was a really awsome story, one of the best in any video game, and anything for that matter, despite the alien vs. earth cliche

  • Gedddy_lee

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    contact harvest didn't have the master chief in it, but was a good book.

    waiting to see how everything turns out...

    I didnt realy like contact harvest it was ok, but you need master chief for games and movies for the love of god

  • Timstuff

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 2:13 pm PT

    Master Chief has no character and you never see his face. That's hardly movie star material. It makes more sense to have a different main character than Master Chief in the movie, unless you just want a big noisy action flick with lots of violence and no plot.

  • andalore

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 12:07 pm PT

    tbh master chief does have all the Personality of a brick, but id still wanna see a halo movie with the chief in a big role, hes an icon, you think of halo you think of the big green dude with the guns

  • V-Nine

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 9:20 am PT

    So its going to be one long Halo 3 commercial minus the one where he's jacked up by a Brute) ...Believe...

  • batmanboy11

    Posted Jan 21, 2008 6:37 pm PT

    Halo with out Master Chief is not Halo.

  • Spartan_418

    Posted Jan 21, 2008 2:58 pm PT

    Watch this video to see why Master Chief would be unfit as an actor in the lead role of a movie.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=LTxO_pgMqys

  • Spartan_418

    Posted Jan 21, 2008 2:53 pm PT

    Umm... does the stupid writer's strike have anything to do with the movie being not in production right now??? Anyway, I think the movie should be a compilation of the events from Fall of Reach, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx. Those books were some of the most EPIC works of fiction I've ever read, and MC would only be there part of the time as a supporting character. As a side note, I don't think they would even have an "actor" play Master Chief... just have him be a dude in a suit or CG and have Steve Downes do the voice, just like in the games. That simple.

  • Riven1989

    Posted Jan 21, 2008 12:26 pm PT

    For all those people who keep saying "NO CHIEF in the movie? " read damn article again. Now, all it says that is that he wont be the one who carries the story, because like it or not Master Chief, while extremely cool, is a weapon, plain and simple. To have a person raised for the sole purpose of being a weapon, be the driving force in a story is just plain silly. Think of it this way, if the writers take the perspective of one of those marines, imagine how much better it would be if the MC showed up just in time to save you. Using this method they would allow MC to be a true hero, if not a demi god in the eyes of the human soldiers and a "DEMON" in the eyes of the covenant.

  • sacor1192

    Posted Jan 21, 2008 12:16 pm PT

    look, while in the games master chief doesn't say much and spends most of his time killing people, the books are much more personal and talk about his life and how he feels and thinks. The movie would be much more successful if based on the books, starting with the fall of reach.

  • Nurematsu

    Posted Jan 20, 2008 9:15 pm PT

    I don't see what's the big deal. I think it makes sense to have some focus diverted away from MC and directed toward the story of Halo. I actually liked the movie I saw on my bro's 360 about the marines fighting off the Brutes as they waited for reinforcements. I think a movie about the war would be so much better than a movie only about MC. I mean, we've played his role for 3 games now. Haven't we seen enough of his point of view?

  • xgalacticax

    Posted Jan 20, 2008 11:21 am PT

    This is genius, Halo movie with no Master Chief? That's like a Metal Gear movie without Snake or a Matrix movie without Neo or lets see, maybe a god fo war movie without Kratos. Awesome!!!, wait a minute, that sucks............I felt depressed that there were three Resident Evil movies and no Chris Redfield (who's the main character)....but squash that, Redfield can be replaced but Master Chief was the reason the war ended. If Chief isn't in the movie, I'm not gonna see it.

  • BlackKobra94

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 11:43 pm PT

    Whats the point of seeing this movie if theres no Master Chief

  • benswinbanks

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 7:20 pm PT

    it will be based on the first halo, and the marise struggle against the covenant, with master chief popping in here and there to be the saviour. that is the only (read: ONLY) way this movie would work in the mainstream.

    on the note of 'not showing his face makes him hard to write for' they should take a page from V for Vendetta which successfully did just that. great film

  • _SMYLEY_

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 4:48 pm PT

    I think the chief is more an icon than anything, and to be completely honest, a film without out him as the main but instead a lurking shadow of something to come or a hint of hope brewing behind the scenes would be much better than one follwing him through galaxies fighting off alien invaders. This is where Halo will decide its prioities; a huge CGI blockbuster or a really good, really interesting futuristic movie following the view of these "times" that wasn't explored in the game by exploring them trough the eyes of another. Like DonutTrooper said, it's going to be hard to create a deep, cool character that you want to learn more about and want to see develop when he says things like that, but like bertm1975 said, its up to the writers to create Master Chief one way another, as a character or a force beyond reach yet within the boundaries of the story becasue you simply can't tell the story of how the covenant was stopped and how the flood was destroyed and how earth was saved without telling the story of the MC. Eighter way, this movie will be huge (im talkin record breaking) and either way, it will happen. These are the only things i can garuntee because as long as things like epic videogames and ambitous directors exist, there will always be movies about those epic videogames. I cant even imagine Halo not becoming a movie. There have already been ins and outs about its arrival and just letting such an immense money-maker go down the drain to be forgotten would in no way make sense. I just really hope they make it before i'm too old to enjoy it...

  • Uberman2321

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 4:27 pm PT

    why isnt he? I like master chief

  • pieman2906

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 3:04 pm PT

    how can you say there was no story in the game!? do you people even pay attention? together with the games books and other internet based stuff the Halo universe is actually quite fleshed out. There's a lot more content that can be told besides the content in the games and even the same stuff in the games can be told from a different perspective. It seems rather immature of people to be throwing out such mindless comments on how bad the movie will be just because it might not consist of 90% Master Chief close ups. The moments where the Chief is shown will be much more exciting if they are brief and separated throughout the film.

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