Re-Writing the Halo TV Show 

Get your air up here: airup.link/40Q7Dvx use code ACTMAN15 for 15% off all orders! #airup #airuppartner The Halo TV series has been universally hated by Halo fans. It's like the showrunners specifically wanted to avoid staying true to the source material. Like they didn't want to make the show for Halo fans. But what if the show was made for Halo fans? What if we re-wrote the Halo TV series to be actually good? Well, only one way to find out...

I still will never understand why they didn’t take each of the original 10 levels of Combat Evolved and translate them in to 10 episodes of the first season. Surely that couldn’t have been difficult.

All they had to do was follow the story already made. Why change things that didn’t need to be changed. A good example is Halseys assistant, he was just creepy trying to kiss a sleeping clone. That’s what they decide to keep in whilst completely removing Sgt Johnson?

No lie, this really made me excited for season 2 of a TV show that doesn't exist

It’s crazy that The Act Man was able to portray a better, more captivating story than an entire team of directors producers and writers in 30 minutes

Still sad we got did so dirty with the Halo show. The writers legitimately took pride in abandoning the source material, games that revolutionized an entire industry and got millions of people to celebrate each release.

That salespitch was 90% accurate. You forgot the part where the screenwriters circlejerked eachother afterwards

I've always wanted a "band of brothers" style of series. Starting with interviews from the "veterans" of the Human-Covenant War. Giving context to those who don't know halo and hinting to future events for those that do. Following a platoon or company sized element that moved from battle to battle, especially on reach or the lead up to the battle of the arc.

14:30, you say follow almost exactly the events of the Silent Cartographer level, does that include getting the warthog stuck in the doors that lock on you forcing a detour to open them? Or perhaps this is a moment to incorporate that fan strategy by having Cortana say something like "Wait Chief! The Covenant have rigged the doors to lock if we approach, I can undo it but we'll need to bypass at a nearby- What are you doing" "Improvising." And Chief guns the warthog in barely getting the front end through the doors as the back half is caught and wedged in, climbing out he proceeds with the mission, maybe even tearing the turret off the Warthog and bringing it along. Just a thought.

THIS IS LITERALLY ALL WE WANTED. WHY THE HELL WAS IT SO HARD TO GET THIS RIGHT.

I’m 69% sure that’s how that meeting actually went down man, facial expressions and all😂 And let’s be real, an entire Halo TV show made by Blur studio that follows the events of the games. Simple and a guaranteed success. Really upsetting they took such a smelly shit on such an amazing franchise, had so much potential. Anyways, fire video Kells!

Idea for pilot episode opening: Panoramic shot of Halsey explaining to 6 year old John what a quarter is; coin toss scene happens with young LT Keyes in the background. Cut to John waking up from the cryo dream to witness the high octane slaughter as he makes his way to the bridge to the current CPT Keyes. (Quick jump cuts to increase stress/tension) Title screen. Then flash to the hours previous to give context for the random slipspace jump. This would set up depth of Keyes in the story, and allude to flashbacks at key times throughout series.

I have been thinking about this video occasionally for weeks, and I keep getting emotional about how insanely cool that end season sequence would be.

After watching this...make the 2 hour version. This was phenomenal. Somebody get this man a director!

Funny how a guy in his room can do a better story than a $10,000,000 per episode funded show

I actually wrote a brief film treatment for the 343 Guilty Spark level as its own movie for a class a couple years ago, and it's kinda funny how many themes people who played the games carry over when rewriting the story to a different medium.

I wish you did make the video 2 hours long and go into every detail. This is inspiring! The way you describe your ideas for the story is exciting. I wish we got to learn more about characters like the heretic leader and ship master. Also I think it would be cool to see stories about jackal and grunt characters. Love the covenant, need more covenant POV

Terrifying how this WASN'T the first idea they had. Thanks for making this.

I think the beginning of the Guilty Spark episode should be shown from Jenkins' point of view to allow the viewer to empathize with him as a combat form, similar to how it was in the book. Everything up until them entering the room is shown through his eyes: them entering the facility, finding the dead elite, and them prepping to open the door. It cuts right before they open the door and we open to another shot of Chief touching down. Then everything continues as usual

The Act just narrated a more amazing story so well that I could literally see it in my imagination with the halo show and halo 4 and 5 level visuals. The power of actual effort and passion

One major change. Instead of Chief’s armor being damaged by Guilty Spark. It should be damaged by the teleporting and the moment from “The Flood” where Cortana uses Chief’s suit to save his life. The latter is such a creepy and riveting moment showcasing just how terrifying the flood are, and how capable Cortana is.

I’ve never seen a corporate meeting done so accurately, and took so long to complete. Amazing rendition Act Man👏

Dude how did you manage to nail and act like the paramount executives? 100% accurate

My idea would be to adapt "The Flood," "Fall of Reach," or perhaps even "Contact Harvest." I know Contact Harvest isn't focused on Master Chief, but at least it would act as supplementary material that expands the universe of the games and acts as an introduction to the Covenant as a formidable force.

Honestly this was enough to make me love halo again, now Act Man I need you to become a producer and a director and get on this show right now. This is fantastic 😂🎉

its funny how a 29 minute video kept my attention more then a single episode of that halo tv show. You know how to tell a story and you should have been the one behind the making of the show. it would have been what the people wanted!!

One add on that would be super cool for the maw is adding how chief was nearly infected by the flood, and showing how terrified he was in the moment. Cortana stepping in and saving his life could really add a nice, vulnerable moment that shows more of his humanity and further strengthens their bond together, and they level of trust he has in her.

This was incredible! Part 2 please, everyone needs to like the part 2 comments because this idea needs traction!

Watching this shortly after watching your review of the Halo Infinite campaign just emphasizes how the recent productions don't really fully understand what makes the IP interesting. It's not just a story about the Chief. It's about how the Chief fits into the larger narrative of the military conflict, the rings, and all of the other characters we have become attached to. It's not about one special person beast-moding his way through hordes of villains like doomguy. While the chief is special, he's just the player's vehicle for experiencing the world.

The added lore you gave Johnson, foe hammer, chief, etc. felt like I was revisiting Halo for the first time. The emotions that were expressed through each and every episode was simply perfect. Thank you for this!

They had the rights to a story that LITERALLY defined a generation of fps 1st person shooters. What do they do with it? THEY REWRITE! PHENOMENAL WORK KEEP IT UP!!!!

It should’ve started in three time periods that you switch between constantly. 1. The initial waking up of the children that become Spartans. 2. Avery Johnson arriving at Harvest. 3. A Spartan Team fighting against the Covenant until finally suiciding themselves. Second Episode 1. John navigating his childhood of training - some of the Spartans that died last episode being encountered as children. 2. Avery Johnson and others realise there’s alien contact. 3. Another piece of Spartans - maybe Grey Team doing something and surviving. 3rd 1. John and Co. embark for their armor and start fitting out into them. 2. First Contact goes hostile. 3. The Spartans assemble for the first time in their armor as alarms blare as the Covenant arrive. This makes things more open ended and valuable commercially with multiple Spartan teams to sell as toys and so on

Im glad to hear you always highlight how awesome the names in Halo are.

I love that "How I would write the Halo show" is just... The plot of the book.

Really like all the flashback ideas. It’s almost like a quiet form of PTSD for the chief to be reminded of when he’s in different situations. Very cool idea

Best version: Chief takes off his helmet in a fight so he can monologue The halo rings go off since he didn't make it in time Everything dies and the silver timeline ends.

I doubt this will happen, but I'd love to see how you'd write the rest of the seasons! Would be interesting to see how you incorporate the rest of the games, books, etc (especially stuff like ODST) and what stuff you'd change/cut. Great video as always!

im only 4 minutes in and already i feel a void in my soul that can only be filled by act man making the halo show the right way

The flirtationship between Foehammer and Johnson is actually brilliant. Doesn't detract from their characters, gives their human side more time to shine, and her eventual death will have such a bigger impact! The audience will have engaged with the charismatic nature of her, they'll sympathize with Johnson, and feel the weight of the Covenant war with such an emotional loss, all while giving a beloved side character some much deserved room to breath! Would be wonderful, too, if her and Cortana had some banter to enhance everyone's charm

Bro what a master this would be 🤌🏻. You definitely have writer and director lvl talent. I would love to see you using these talents on serious projects.

I like the idea of Master a chief to reveal his face at the end of the season. Like the mandalorian he took off the helmet at the end of season 1 and the 2 times that he took off the helmet was for a great storytelling reason

Paramount could’ve literally just re-enacted all of CE’s cutscenes in live action and it would’ve been instantly better than what we actually got

They should've just did a CGI show with amazing cinematography. I'd at least pay for that.

This dude! This! Make Act Man the creative director of the show, clearly knows how to make a actual Halo TV series

Damn you, Act Man! I’m super pumped for this show now! 😂 You nailed it.

I would love to see another one of these for a hypothetical seasons 2 and 3.

I literally cried thinking we could have had this be a reality😔

I would love watching a show covering every mission, every mission can even be two episode arcs. One episode of a pair can be the name of whatever character is being followed, the other can be the name of the in game mission. We already experienced MC’s perspective, flush out the stuff that happened to other characters and their experience of hearing updates of the overall situation and struggling to figure out what they can do and finding the courage to get it done. As a joke, you can make it everyone’s side quest to get a glimpse of MC. They can lightheartedly have a pool going of who gets to see his face first.

Honestly the peak of Halo cinema was the Halo 3 period of the believe campaign.

I suggest that a studio hire The Act Man and HiddenXperia, plus some of the other lore boys as consultants for a complete rewrite of the Halo tv show. I’m thinking along the lines of somebody get this man a raise.

Dude there is a shortage of writers in Hollywood right now because of the strikes. Actman you should definitely draft a script and storyline for this. You heading this up would be awesome. A massive opportunity. I don’t know how it can be done, but damn does your storyline and ideas sound awesome.

Seeing the ship master rock up and capturing keys is a nice touch

I honestly loved the re--writing, it had amazing details and really shows how much better a RU-vidr/someone who knows Halo could do against writers who didn't really do well.

This was tremendous, we need a video for Halo 2 to see how you would translate the best narrative in the halo series into a film series.

Jenkins as a flood, perfect! the torment and desperateness would show how evil the flood is. At the same time giving Jenkins some well-deserved screen time

Episode you definitely gotta add marines dealing with wounded soldiers and lost friends. While Master Chief stays focused and moved to the next mission like a spartan does. He carries our fight forward without ever giving up or losing his grip.

This was incredible! Like listening to an audio book with visuals. Can you please do a season two?? and three? Seriously, though. Do it!

This dude should have been hired as a consultant for the Halo show

This video does two things for me. 1) It reminds how absolutely awesome the story of CE and the main games are 2) It makes me irritated as all hell that a single fan with a passion for the material can create a better script adaptation than a multi billion dollar media conglomerate. Imagine what we could've had... Great video Act Man, wish we could stay in that fever dream.

This fan rewrite was more entertaining than any scene of the Halo TV show.

The idea of seeing marines jackals and grunts work together against the flood is so awesome

Give this man a Grammy or an Oscar for best director and writer… so damn good, HOORA!

Johnson meeting Chief in the Guilty Spark facility and Chief being the one to hype him up to escape works way too well. That’s such a perfect way to address A. that Johnson is still alive, which is weird in the games but in fairness he wasn’t a cinematic character yet in CE, and B. it’s a great role reversal that totally makes sense in context, and even kinda builds towards later when Cortana doesn’t know what to do and Chief comes in with the plan like the game.

It’s so funny how the act man was basically like “Watch actors act the first game while we add some tidbits from extended lore. Otherwise it’s literally the first game with more dialogue”

How hard would it be for paramount+ to have a genuine halo fan such as yourself to help write the story for the greater good of all halo fans

Literally got goosebumps from your guilty spark episode. Imagine casuals thinking what could possibly make the covenant and humans fight together, not knowing its the flood.

The sales pitch was done to perfection, exactly how I thought the pitch went when Paramount was making this show!😅👍

I now need you to make a season 2 plot, please I can't live without it now

Dude please do a season 2, I would love to hear you keep going with this

I think the script by Alex Garland for a Halo CE movie is still what we should've gotten before all else, it really nailed an actual "fresh take on Halo" by following the same plot and footsteps of the game, but also taking new directions to make it even more gritty, grounded and bloody.

Imagine the water cooler talk that would have been created simply by no one knowing who the MC actor was for the first season. I would have laughed so hard with the finale "revealing" his face just like the first game "did."

Personally, if I was writing a Halo tv show, I’d change it up a bit. Instead of doing the original game for the entire season, I’d do Halo Reach for the first season, even throwing in some stuff from the Fall of Reach book. Doing a season where you follow Noble Team, watching the members die throughout the season until you get to the finale with Noble Six’s last stand, you watch as the team you grew attached to throughout the season get killed one by one until they’re all gone. Then, the final scene shifts to the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn as we see Captain Keyes ordering the random jump as per the Cole Protocol, and the final shot is Master Chief in his stasis pod. *Then* I would start the story of the original game in season 2, changing the entire cast(except Cortana, since part of the story or Reach is getting Cortana off the planet, so she can be the thread that connects the season 1 cast to the rest of the show) as if it’s a different show. I think incorporating Reach as the first season, then changing the cast for the remainder of the series, would be an interesting way to surprise viewers(at least, the ones who never played the games). But, that’s just me. I would market the first season as “Halo: Reach”, then season 2 would change the title to “Halo: Combat Evolved”. For season 3 onward, I’d either have to think of new names for each season(because Halo 2 wouldn’t make much sense for a season 3, and same goes for Halo 3 for a season 4) or it would remain “Halo: Combat Evolved” for the rest of the show. I would do it that way so everyone thinks it’s supposed to be a single season miniseries, until the final scene where it teases the story of the original game, leading to fans speculating on whether that means there would be a season 2 and if it would be the first game(there would, and it would) or if it was just a tease and nothing more.

Absolutely spot on with the intro. Seeing the end of Reach (minus lone wolf) would be perfect. Personally I would have noble 6 not say anything, so viewers who played the games can really imagine them as their noble 6. Plus the Arbiter's perspective is always a 10/10

I think Chiefs helmet getting removed scene should be to tell Johnson about Foehammer’s fate to allow both of them to have a moment of weakness together.

Being such a halo ce and halo 2 fan, literal chills for that ending even only as just an idea. what a way to mash the two games together for the finale. Awesome writing acting male

I want a hypothetical Season 2 to go like this: First five episodes will be to fill in the gaps between CE and 2(aka Asendent Justice & Op. FS) and the rest will be the story of H2 , making it into a 25 episode season.

My changes: master chief should be bald, or largely scarred in some way. the series should also have a split pov between the covenant soldiers, showing an in-depth dive into their ranks and their beliefs in order to explore a better understanding of why they fight And why their so loyal (also they should actually me threats in fights because they are not represented that way in the show)

You know a show FUCKED UP when you start fanficing entire recreations or rewrites. I'd like to see the Castlevania team do a trad or mixed animation take on this.

Imagine someone writing a story in honor of halo. Two claps for TheActMan you needed to be in those rooms

The only thing I would add would be some scenes of Chief talking by campfire or somewhere else of him interacting with the marines and showing he is like them and not just some mythical figure they only heard about. Include some jokes about his disconnect with how strong/weak regular humans are to him.

1:22 sorry I had my eyes open

Here's an idea to juuust to add to the drama, confusion and horror of that first fight with the Flood combat forms. Have the viewers occassionally see the radar in Chief's helmet and have the marine based enemies show up as friendlies.

I love the idea of letting Johnson literally cry as he’s left alone with the plague. Really shows how even our best can only go through so much.

bro your videos are always elite, so good to see someone who cares about his craft and not blinded by money and fame. Keep going bro we all love you

That comic with rtas and the flood infested covenant ship would be a great episode

I’m totally here for your two hour breakdown. Watching this alone, gave me all the great nostalgia vibes and hope that one day someone will do the source material the justice it deserves.

Hey Actman, Screenwriter, and Actor here. I think you made some really great points in this video. I think creating a dynamic Master Chief that works within this story would be very challenging. I Think one of the biggest characters that we could look to is the Mandalorian. Chiefs body language would be 80% of his dialogue. Cortana would carry most conversations, and planning, because she is literally an AI created to help aid in battle. When Chief get's left alone on guilty spark it would make it all the more terrifying to not cortana chatting it up. I'm curious to hear others thoughts on this?

I may have already commented on this video but after a few weeks replaying all the Halo campaigns through again on MCC this video makes me yearn for Actman's Halo show

We need the long cut of this please!!!!!!

I listened to this on my way home and I cried wishing Halo could be this awesome in another life 😢

Dude just the telling of this whole story gets me HYPED to actually watch this. Imagine the turn out for something this masterfully crafted. People would be losing their minds for Halo. Who woulda known the perfect script actually existed in the games already.

I got chills listening to you describe your version. So much better than what we got.

I think a show about the death of different spartan groups would have been great, kind of like the story of halo reach each season we follow a different group and by the end of the season all the Spartans sacrifice their life for the greater good

Act man you can't write a better show than the actual writers while there's a writer's strike!

I like the part where Chief is just a glorified babysitter for a side character nobody wanted to see past the first scene of episode one.

there's a couple scenes from Halo: The Flood I'd love to see in live action that you didn't include but over all, really good work :D

Honestly I think what would work better and what was already shown to work well in the game trailer would have been a show following the UNSC set during the invasion of Earth in Halo 2/3/ODST. Seriously go watch the ODST trailer "ODST The Life" where they go through boot camp so damn good. Have chief be what he should: a one man army that shows up, wrecks shop, takes a marine's weapons, says nothing and dashes off, repeat as needed for story/McGuffin moments. The story still revolves around him, but he's more of a force than a character. That was the entire point of when Bungie made chief, he's supposed to be the faceless super hero we self-insert into. A marine or ODST soldier though? Now that makes for an intriguing story character and lets us see the grittier side of Halo's universe while not dropping the Halo elements (like the stupid show we got did). This was probably the direction Neil Blomkamp and Peter Jackson were going with the purported film years back... man what could have been... Still the Halo 3 and ODST ad campaigns were god-tier.

I took a screenwriting course recently and filmmaking is going to be what I use my university degree for. This…this is how you do a great screenplay. Showing Chief’s emotions in creative ways without showing his face, using the concept of Chekhov’s Gun with Melissa, the camerawork and effort put into hiding Chief’s face, adding scenes for more context such as Keyes being captured and the workings of the Covenant, and so much more. All of it is amazing. If I were to give any critiques, I would say that the language of the Covenant needs to be mostly consistent. Use the games as an example for this. I would say it could be confusing to have them speak their native language and also English at times and and also their native language with subtitles at times. I’d say keep English and native language and swap between them only as necessary. But again, this was amazing to see.

Please do a part 2 and 3 for the entire trilogy 😃

Add the "Spartans never die, their just missing in action" in the beginning as noble 6 is left behind and you got yourself a masterpiece