Halo TV Show Producer On Possibility Of The Arbiter Appearance

Halo TV show producer Kiki Wolfkill addresses the possibility of The Arbiter and other fan-favorite characters appearing in the series. The character was first introduced in Bungie’s video game franchise with 2004’s Halo 2 as Thel ‘Vadamee, a disgraced commander in the theocratic alien collective known as the Covenant who is granted the high-ranking position as a way to atone for his failures. Unbeknownst to him, The Arbiter was sent out to die by the Covenant leadership, but upon learning of their plan to activate the Halo ringworld and subsequently doom all sentient life, he elects to ally with the humans to put a stop to it.

Developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane, the Halo TV show is set in a separate universe from the video games of the same name but still revolves around the ongoing war between humanity and the Covenant in the 26th century and centers on Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 in his fight against the murderous alien collective. Pablo Schreiber leads the cast as Master Chief alongside Jen Taylor reprising her video game role as Cortana, Natascha McElhone, Yerin Ha, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Olive Gray, Charlie Murphy, Kate Kennedy, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac and Danny Sapani. Halo premiered this week to mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and with season 2 already in the works, many are wondering what’s to come from the future of the series.

Related: Halo’s Human vs Covenant War Explained: Full History

In anticipation of its premiere, ComicBook.com sat down with 343 Industries’ Kiki Wolfkill to discuss Paramount+’s Halo TV show adaptation. When asked about the possibility of The Arbiter and other fan-favorite characters appearing in the series, Wolfkill remained mostly mum but confirmed the creatives are looking for ways to pull from the game canon. See what Wolfkill shared below:

“What I would say is, again, we always come from a place of canon. And even though the silver timeline is a branch and canon adjacent in some places, part of the amazing thing of working in this universe is you do have these amazing characters to draw from. And so we’re absolutely always looking for ways where we can bring in some of these characters that we love in a way that also enhances the story and builds on the story, or even becomes the focus of some of the story points. And there’s also, we learned a lot it from season one, and we’ll continue to, and we take that forward. So there’s places where we want to spend more time with some of the characters in season one than we might have.”

Voiced by Keith David, The Arbiter initially saw a mixed reception upon his debut in the Halo franchise, with some praising the layered storytelling with his introduction while others found the sudden twist to playing as him multiple times in Halo 2 to be disappointing when compared to Master Chief’s missions. Regardless of his initial reception, The Arbiter has gone on to become a fan-favorite character, with praise directed towards his physical strengths, David’s vocal performance and the first steps in expanding the franchise’s narrative scope. With The Arbiter and Master Chief’s stories remaining closely intertwined following Halo 2, it’s understandable to question whether the former will appear in Paramount+’s TV show.

Wolfkill’s tease that the creatives behind the Halo TV show are looking for ways to draw from the video game canon for the adaptation does seemingly point towards a possibility of The Arbiter showing up in the series. Whether the character is introduced in the form of ‘Vadamee or another to don the title is unknown, but with the Sangheili race already introduced in the show’s pilot, David’s iconic character could very well see the light of day sometime in the future. Only time will tell as new episodes of Halo air on Paramount+ on Thursdays.

More: Halo Cast, Character & Video Game Comparison Guide

Source: ComicBook.com

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Author: Grant Hermanns