Halo is an American military science fiction television series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane for the streaming service Paramount+.

Based on the video game franchise created by Bungie and developed by 343 Industries, the series follows a 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of several alien races determined to eradicate humanity.

Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana respectively; the latter reprises her voice role from the video game series.

The story is centered around Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a super-soldier of the Spartan-II program, and several other major characters from the video games series.

Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill revealed that the series is a standalone story that takes place within its own "Silver Timeline" that is separate from and inspired by the core canon and lore of the transmedia franchise rather than a continuation, adaptation, prequel, or sequel, explaining that they wished to give the two Halo canons a chance to evolve individually to suit their media.

[34] He was joined by Yerin Ha, Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac and Kate Kennedy.

[36] In September 2022, Joseph Morgan and Cristina Rodlo joined the cast, while Fiona O'Shaughnessy and Tylan Bailey were promoted to series regulars for the second season.

[45] Tie-in content themed around the series was released for Halo Infinite on May 10, 2022 in the form of in-game cosmetics for the game's multiplayer component.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Halo is too derivative of better science-fiction series to emerge a fully-formed elite, but glimmers of promise and faithfulness to the source material signal it's not out of the fight just yet.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Reloading on surer footing, Halo's streamlined second season is a leaner and meaner dose of sci-fi that comes closer to realizing the property's potential.

"[57] Gene Park from the Washington Post criticized the writing behind Kwan Ha and described the sex scene between the Master Chief and Makee in the penultimate episode of the first season as "rushed".

He stated that the series "has its greatest successes in vignettes of exciting tense and well-acted, well-directed drama, but rarely ever earning those best moments within the context of all it's trying to juggle.

[64][65][66] The sex scene between Master Chief/John and Makee, another major original character created for the Silver Timeline canon, in the eighth episode of the first season, has received a polarized reaction from audiences and critics alike; discussions have included whether the scene was "contrived and forced",[67] whether Master Chief commits a war crime by having sex with a prisoner of war who is unable to properly provide her consent, and whether this is atypical behavior of Master Chief in comparison to the core canon (this is the first time John has sex in either the core or Silver canons).

[68] Kiki Wolfkill, the studio head of transmedia at 343 Industries and an executive producer of the show, defended the addition of the scene, stating that while the creative team had "a lot of conversation leading up to whether to do that or not and... there's a lot of different opinions and voices", that the scene was necessary in order to humanize John by providing him with "a human connection with someone" in order to end the season with him as "a fully defined character".

[69] Master Chief actor Pablo Schreiber, on the other hand, has described the inclusion of this scene as "a huge mistake", adding that he argued against it at the time but that his opinion was ignored.