Original subtitles

Halo the series is back and it is the

perfect jumping in point for anyone who

loves sci-fi immersive worlds and of

course Halo so stick around for

exclusive sneak peeks interviews with

the cast and creative team and so much

more what's up everyone and welcome to

this special edition of Halo the series

Declassified I'm Sydney Goodman and I'll

be your host for this deep dive into

Halo's epic second season in this

special presentation we'll explore the

action to come in season 2 uncover

behind the scenes secrets and I'll chat

with executive producer Kiki wolfkill

and The Master Chief himself Pablo

shriber before we get into all that if

you've never seen Halo the series before

need a refresher on season 1 or just

want to relive all the action I have the

perfect thing for you a one-of aind

recap of the first Nine episodes check

it

out the Spartans are our only effective

weapons against the Covenant they're

faster stronger smarter just keep on

kill I don't think the situation here is

different I am different something we

need to know about the Spartan program

what they did to us it's only permanent

if we choose to let him me hello Dr Hy I

am Cortana my directive is to integrate

fully with the Master Chief and in time

you will do

that I've seen what Covenant weapons are

capable of entire planets turned to

Glass you've been fighting these alien

creatures for years and we still have no

idea what they want Covenant forces

appear to be

Excavating sacred ring Halo it's a

weapon tell me why I should trust

you we are the

[Music]

same you're talking about humankind's

first incursion into Covenant controlled

space we can do it

man we belong here Stay With Me

no no no take over my body I told you I

may not be able to bring you back it's

the only

way find the Halo win the

war there is something within us inh

human something worth

[Music]

protecting there will be

Reckoning

it's a new season for Halo the series

with a huge emphasis on new there are

new battles to be fought new challenges

for Our Heroes to confront new allies to

join them and new enemies to face we've

put together a little glimpse of what

you can expect in Halo's sophomore

season the Halo story has season 2 is a

it's a broader bigger wider Universe

right it's absolutely massive which is

one of the things that has always

appealed to me about HAL on the

franchise of Halo there's a lot of

highlights from season

2 well we start off season 2 a little

bit after the events of season 1 the

state of the world is quite different

our goal in making this season was to

take this Epic World That season 1 built

and then look at it through this really

subjective lens of our characters um and

that is is true not just for our our

storytelling and from a writing

perspective it informs the way we use

the camera this season what's different

for me in the action is the way that

we're shooting it for instance in combat

we want to be with our soldiers you know

we're we're moving we're not seeing the

entire Battlefield you see we're in that

fog of War we're using a lot of handheld

it's very inside of the action rather

than big wide shots where you see

everything uh it it puts you in the

middle of it sometimes we'll just

Glimpse some sing armor in the fog or

catch the glimmer of an eye um but we

don't always see them until they're

right on top of us it feels very

visceral it feels very evocative it

feels um it feels like you're in the

battle puts you inside of the battle and

actually often the reactions are real

because you just in the midst of it all

and it was just so exciting to shoot it

really was it felt real a lot of the

time there was a multiple moments where

we've had to do things that we have

never done before um both with camera

and performance together I think it's

made for some um really immediate and

kinetic uh storytelling so I say there's

so many moments in this season that are

truly going to surprise the audience I

think we have more characters it's an

honor we have more action we have more

special effects more pyro and uh more

backup I think fans can look forward to

a season that will feel incredibly

authentic everyone is so passionate um

cast stand crew and so it's so nice to

come to work when it's like that because

everyone really

cares after the break I'll talk to Halo

the series executive producer Kiki

wolfkill and star Pablo shriber so stick

around you won't want to miss

it

I'm here with Halo the series executive

producer Kiki wolfkill and The Master

Chief himself Pablo shriber hi guys

welcome back to Declassified in person

we get to be here in we finally made it

to the bunker I love it yes yeah so

extra special welcome so Halo the series

is back season two how are you both

feeling about it now that it's like a

out to hit the world feeling great

feeling fantastic you know it's it's a a

huge operation to put it on which Kiki

can tell you more about certainly so in

terms of time and energy spent being

able to share it with people is a

massive moment and part of it is also

knowing like the giant crew who worked

on the show everyone who was involved

finally gets to see the finish right

it's so different from when you start

shooting to once you get through all of

vxs and posts so just really excited to

share it for those who may not remember

where we left off last season tell us a

bit about where the world of Halo and

the master chief are at the end of

season one well at the end of season one

um Chief had given over his

Consciousness to Cortana she was

controlling him through the suit uh so

in season two we pick up uh a little bit

down the road a little bit of a time

Jump and we're going to learn as the

season rolls out um what has happened in

the time between when we cut and when we

come back back yeah I think we're about

6 months after the events of season 1

and I think the thing that you'll

probably feel the most is how far the

war has progressed right so Humanity

really feels like it's on its back foot

when we come into season 2 the biggest

difference between season one and season

two is the tone um and there's a darker

tone to it the the fighting and the

action sequences feel like you're more a

part of them you're in in the action a

lot more and a lot of that was was due

to the new additions of people that were

brought in through the art department

and through the stunt Department uh and

a lot of those changes I think made it

feel quite different my excitement for

season 2 is off the charts and Kiki I

understand that you took us on a tour of

the set um at Corda Studios over in

Budapest Hungary so let's check that out

hi I'm Kiki wolfkill I am an executive

producer here on the Halo TV series we

here at Corda Studios stage five I think

we we have a few exciting things to show

you come on

in this is the amazing thing on stage

five our covenant Corvette set which has

been an extraordinary effort to build

block for director The Fabulous Denny

Gordon you came to see

us this is one of our recently slain

sang Hey here on the floor part of our

stunt team Sayang Healey

reference we have another Spartan

somewhere around here Kate Kennedy say

hello to the camera hi

everybody season 2 is going to be very

intense it's been a pleasure being able

to make this show for all of you and

we're super excited for you to see it so

thank you bye well it sounds like

there's a lot waiting for us in season 2

but what would you like to say to maybe

someone who hasn't seen an episode of

Halo the series yet and why they should

check it out the beautiful thing about

sci-fi is it really lets you tell

stories that feel relatable and

contemporary but do it with all of the

World building and wonder that comes

with seeing the future right so I think

it's the Sci-Fi of it it's the

incredible action of it um but also you

know the the

really very character-driven

stories um against that backdrop it

comes from you know to to 343 and

Microsoft's credit um an amazingly rich

and vast library of lore that has been

painstakingly thought out and and put

out over the years so to have that kind

of Rich canvas to draw from and tell new

stories and adjacent stories in is just

a really amazing luxury to have sounds

like season 2 really has a lot in store

for us uh so without spoiling anything

what can fans look forward to in season

two at the center of the season um is a

really sort of momentous Halo event you

know we lead into it um with a lot of

mystery and come out of it with sort of

dealing with the impact of those events

you know we we've taken some risks in

the past and continue to do so in um in

our storytelling but we do it from a

place where uh we hope the fans will

enjoy being able to see these characters

being being able to see them come to

life in different ways and really

telling these sort of Rich character

stories with them in situations that

they experienced differently from the

games um and that's been creatively

scary but also exciting for us Kiki

Pablo thank you both so much for coming

on Declassified I doubt this will be the

only time that we see you um this season

but thanks for coming by thank you

appreciate it thank

you

my name is Joseph Morgan and I play

James Akerson in Halo season 2 I'm here

because I believe in you I played Halo

Halo 2 Halo 3 Halo

4 uh co-op with my friend and then you

know when I got offered the role I

thought it was my due diligence to play

through Halo Reach just to make sure I'd

done my research Halo was huge when I

was growing up so uh everybody was

playing it and it was uh it was kind of

revolutionary there's more Halo the

series Declassified coming up so stick

around the Spartans are back in the

armor here's a special look at what's in

store for silver team and the actors

behind the

suits we're back back in armor back for

season 2 baby but I'm ready man I'm

ready to rock and roll I we not belt to

sit around and

wait basically yeah we did pick up from

season 1 it felt a bit like season 1 was

the first year of high school and then

you break for the summer break and then

you come back and you kind of like know

everybody you know the school you know

the layout season two familiar cast

familiar crew familiar Studios back with

the family it's a major event for

everybody

involved one thing that we all noticed

about each other right was there was a

little bit of anxiety because we knew we

had to get in armor but the good part is

we all trained cuz we had about 9 months

between seasons was great actually cuz

it's really set the tone for the second

season I think this season unlike things

that you might have seen in season one

there's a lot more practical running in

the suits a lot more Speed windes 3 2 1

go I think what you have to consider is

most of our action are done in suits

there was a lot of work that was done

with them in between Seasons it's an

evolution of the Season 1 design they're

less restrictive I think the biggest

difference is the look of them and

they've got loads of new kind of

intricate detailing and nice textures

and I think they look really impressive

they did a lot of work to make it more

comfortable new armor

shiny flexible they're still not

pajamas there a lot of big effects

around the suits this season try to stay

focused on the mission I'm Pablo triber

I play the master chief John 117 PA's

incredible incredible everyone knows the

master chief I don't do I need more of

an introduction than

that it's been exciting to have another

opportunity to bring the Halo Universe

to life lots of debris and dust and

Sparks and you got to be comfortable

with loud

[Music]

explosions and uh and you got to get

bloody he's very patient sometimes he

has to be there for quite some time

having all of these injuries apply to

him Pablo's a beast he does some pretty

amazing things in sequence I think the

fans are going to be truly excited for

what's in store for them the chief is

solid he's the best we've

got there's a lot more Halo the series

Declassified if to come including a

special season 2 trailer so don't go

anywhere welcome back one of my favorite

parts of

wait there we go just wanted to match

the vibe a little more one of my

favorite parts of Halo the series is how

the creative team behind the show have

built the world or worlds of the 26th

Century here's Glimpse behind the

curtain as a massive group of talented

artists combined visual effects special

effects production design art Direction

set design makeup and props to bring 500

years in the future to the present and

this is one of saurin crew's actual

space

suits this is a big television show take

one we have in my opinion the finest

crew on the planet I'll forever being an

awe of them it's been a total Iron Man

Marathon they've worked so hard the

costume guys you know I had the best

time I could not have higher praise for

our crew and our departments not only

because of their sheer skill but also

just the

passion just to create a single sequence

in our show requires hair makeup

Prosthetics that have probably never

been done before I think the most

important thing is team and having a

great Department of really skilled

dedicated artists and I got that on this

show and that has to work with our

costumes which we've made I think 4,000

we sort of narrow them down to looks

that we really love and how the costume

comes together and the environment that

these characters are in especially on

the production design which is

phenomenal and all the props so we

really come together as a team to make

sure that all of our looks are really

fluid with one another that's one of the

exciting things about a show like this

creatively you actually have quite wide

parameters this is very very much part

of making everything belong together it

was very very intense things were on a

much bigger scale and and pretty

Relentless at certain

stages we've used a lot of wers shots

that are stitched together that feel

like they're one big long shot a lot of

continuous shots which I have to say

this crew did such an incredible job of

shooting it every take was high stakes

and everybody was involved all hands

were on Deck everybody came together to

make sure that we got it right and those

have to work with the production

[Music]

design I think we're sitting at 133 sets

at this point that was like an extreme

sport version of what we usually do as

an art department just cuz the amount

that has to happen in quite a short

space of time we're on these huge sets

that were just so intricately made those

work with our stunt books who have to

create previs and rehearse on these sets

and do the most radical things I've ever

seen so what we have is a cohesive Sun

team that understands not only stunts

from the Practical side but storytelling

and we have a lot of sfx and Pyro which

I think is again the most amazing I've

ever seen I had a plan and I built a

plan so that we could actually get our

principal actors in amongst everything

that was going on and we're doing some

visual effects work on this show that's

never been attempted before you can

imagine in a project of this scale there

needs to be a massive Mass collaboration

constantly our departments talk to each

other to sort of figure out what is the

best approach which will help us and

we'll make those shots you know exciting

at the end it's a massive undertaking by

a lot of people who are really good at

their jobs they truly are Elite Crafts

People and

filmmakers thank you for joining me for

this unique preview of Halo the series

gigantic second season after you watch

each episode I hope you'll join me for

Halo the series Declassified where we'll

break down every episode of the new

season

and before I go I have one last sneak

peek for you here's the official trailer

for Halo the series season

2 people of

reach I bring you

blessings no know that I am the

instrument of your

Extinction know that I

am

[Music]

death sometimes events are beyond our

control and in those

moments we save what we

can I look at sure

faces I do not see defeat

no and I do not see

surrender you will not make the

stand

[Music]

alone we have something the enemy does

[Music]

not we have

Heroes when the battle

ends

they just call it a

victory and say it was because of me

because of something I did or something

you

are something you can't

see but you feel

[Music]

[Applause]

it

[Music]

[Music]