Halo Might’ve Just Set Up The Spartan-IV Program For Season 3

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Halo season 2, episode 8, “Halo”

The ending of Halo season 2’s finale may have set up the origins of the UNSC’s Spartan-IV program for a potential Halo season 3. As seen in the finale, Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) has finally made it to the first Halo ring while the UNSC was battling the Covenant in orbit, sending several legions of their new Spartan-IIIs in a desperate bid to achieve victory. Combined with the first outbreak of the parasitic Flood, a dynamic future has certainly been set up for a third season, including the emergence of the Spartan-IVs.

By the end of Halo season 2, events in the unique “Silver Timeline” have finally caught up with the events of the core canon and first Halo game, Combat Evolved. The first Halo ring has finally been found, and both the UNSC and Covenant are vying for its control. However, other significant arcs have been set up as well beyond the ring, such as the emergence of the Flood as well as a new character pairing that could lead to the Spartan-IVs in Paramount’s yet-to-be-greenlit Halo season 3.

Most Of The Spartan-IIs And IIIs Are Gone

Is It Time For A New Program?

By the end of Halo season 2, there aren’t very many Spartans left. Just like in the core Halo canon of the games and books, John-117 is one of the last known Spartan-IIs following Vannak’s death, Riz’s retirement, and Kai’s sacrifice during the finale battling the Covenant. Likewise, the numbers of newly trained and more cost-effective Spartan-IIIs has been vastly diminished thanks to Admiral Parangosky who sent wave after wave in the hopes that just one could inject a destructive spike into a Covenant bridge, one that would cause a chain reaction and destroy the entire fleet.

Meant to be expendable, there are now only a small few Spartan-IIIs alive by the season’s end. As such, the time may have come for the next iteration of Spartans to be created just like the core Halo canon. After all, the existence of the Spartan supersoldiers is one of the most critical reasons why the UNSC even has a chance against the alien Covenant forces.

Soren Seems Open To Becoming A Spartan Again

He Could Replace The Halo Games’ Musa-096

It’s worth noting that the final episodes of Halo season 2 saw the former Spartan-II-turned-pirate Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) admitting that there are elements of Spartan life he misses. Although he still has a grudge against the program’s original director Catherine Halsey for child kidnapping, intense indoctrination, and what happened to his arm as a result of a botched genetic augmentation, it is possible that Soren could reunite with the UNSC for a brand-new role. Likewise, he could even replace a similar character from the original Halo canon.

There are some key similarities between Soren-066 and Musa-096, a former Spartan-II from the core canon who received his own disability from an augmentation gone wrong. Similarly harboring no love for Halsey yet recognizing the value of the Spartan program, Musa ends up directing the Spartan-IV program, taking adult volunteers and giving them far less physical augmentations in favor of more advanced and protective Mjolnir armor. As such, it’s certainly a role Soren could fill in the future, especially after losing his wife Laera to the Flood in Halo season 2’s finale.

Halo Season 3 Theory: Soren and Ackerson Will Build The Spartan-IVs

Halo Season 2’s Finale Put Them Together

At the end of Halo season 2, the Spartan-IIs’ Col. James Ackerson was freed by Soren as he’d helped protect his family from the Flood. Having been imprisoned by Admiral Parangosky due to his change of heart and the return of John-117, Ackerson remains with Soren and his family for the rest of the episode. Now, Halo season 2 has left Ackerson with Soren and his son.

In the wake of the UNSC’s heavy losses following the Flood outbreak on Onyx (including Parangosky and Halsey), it’s possible that Ackerson and Soren are uniquely positioned to start the Spartan-IV program together in Halo season 3. As such, the Spartan-IVs could become the next evolution of the program that’s better protected and far less expendable than the previous version. Additionally, they can also improve upon the elements of Halsey’s Spartan-II program that made it so problematic (just like in the core Halo canon).