HBO’s ‘The Final Of Us’ Makes ‘Halo’ Followers Marvel What Might Have Been

The Final of Us is a smash hit in each means attainable on HBO, scoring sky-high opinions from each skilled critics and hard-to-please gamer followers. One constant little bit of reward the present is getting is the truth that it’s sticking extremely near the supply materials, which at occasions means shot-for-shot remakes of scenes from the video games, actual strains from the script, and in a single case, even the identical actor reprising a decade-old function.

The Final of Us has gone so nicely that it’s really introduced up a ache level for a rival fanbase, and we’re seeing many individuals lament what might have been with Paramount Plus’s Halo present, if solely these making it had determined to stay even a little bit near the supply materials as an alternative of…no matter it’s they ended up making.

Whereas Paramount Plus touts Halo as a viewership success, the place it was the most well-liked sequence on the service earlier than the latest Yellowstone prequel, the present itself is routinely mocked for it frankly baffling choices with Grasp Chief and the Halo universe.

Among the many stranger choices made with the sequence was the will to have Grasp Chief, a personality well-known for by no means eradicating his helmet, basically by no means put on his helmet in an effort to make the character extra grounded and relatable. As an alternative, he typically appears like a completely completely different individual.

Then there’s the present’s odd obsession with nudity, together with seeing Grasp Chief himself bare at one level. Ultimately, this progresses to a intercourse scene between Grasp Chief and a (human) Covenant spy whereas Cortana watches on the displays, a sequence that was memed on endlessly after it aired.

Then there are much less goofy adjustments to the supply materials, however nonetheless extremely weird choices, just like the present organising new character Kwan as a companion to Grasp Chief, solely to right away separate them and provides her a definite storyline that doesn’t join in a significant approach to Chief once more, and isn’t fulfilling to observe.

Whereas it’s true that you’ll doubtless should make some supply materials sacrifices when adapting a recreation, there’s a distinction between issues The Final of Us is doing, like altering spore transfusion of the virus so everybody doesn’t should put on fuel masks onscreen on a regular basis, and doing no matter Halo did right here, wildly altering lore and crafting storylines that hardly come anyplace near the unique video games. The one benefit of the Halo present up to now might be Cortana, and shock, it’s as a result of they used the unique actress from the video games.

You might be able to argue that Halo’s issues are about extra than simply staying devoted to the supply, that Halo simply doesn’t have the funds or manufacturing worth of The Final of Us both. And but this can be a unhealthy instance on this case, provided that Halo followers can level to the 2012 reside motion miniseries Ahead Unto Daybreak as a profitable approach to inform a Halo story with a good smaller funds, primarily as a result of it was well-written and stayed true to what we knew in regards to the Halo universe. The brand new, drastically costlier sequence doesn’t do this.

I’ve seen some hopes amongst followers that Halo writers will take classes from The Final of Us to coronary heart and stick nearer to the supply materials sooner or later. On condition that Halo season 1 ended with Cortana successfully remote-piloting Grasp Chief’s corpse, I should not have numerous religion that’s going to occur in season 2. However we’ll see.

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Choose up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller sequence and The Earthborn Trilogy.