The second ‘Halo’ season has a release date and a teaser trailer

Master Chief, the Spartan hero from Halo, will continue his live-action adventures with two episodes of its second season premiering worldwide on February 8th next year. Paramount Plus announced the date, along with a teaser trailer, during CCXP in Brazil.

The teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much about the story, of course. But Paramount Plus says in its release that the new season will see Schreiber’s Master Chief trying to prove that the Covenant (the alien antagonists from the show and the games) are preparing to attack Reach — the humans’ military stronghold that fell prior to the story’s beginning in the first Halo game.

If you’ve played that game, you know where this goes, and Paramount Plus hints at it in the release. The Master Chief will go “on a journey to find the key to humankind’s salvation, or its extinction — Halo.” If you’ve played the games, you know... other things about what happens in between now and his arrival at the Halo ring. I won’t spoil anything for anyone who was first introduced to the series by the TV show, but it gets grim.

The first season was, visually, at least, a generally faithful adaptation of the games it’s based on, and it had some decent, gritty sci-fi future chops. I tend to agree with Ash Parrish’s review for The Verge — Master Chief could stand to lighten up a little, and the show’s overall tone could use some tweaking. Halo’s CGI aliens look silly, too (although I found that nostalgically charming). For those who haven’t seen it yet, Paramount Plus made it free to watch on YouTube a couple of days ago.

In addition to Schreiber, Halo’s second season will see the return of Natascha McElhone as Dr. Halsey and Jen Taylor as Cortana. Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, and Danny Sapani will also return. Joseph Morgan and Cristina Rodlo will join the series as James Ackerson and Talia Perez.