Halo Season 3 Will Finally Begin The Story Of Combat Evolved

Spoilers are ahead for Halo season 2’s finale.

In the wake of an action-packed Halo season 2 finale, it seems the show’s season 3 will finally begin the story of Halo: Combat Evolved. As the first-ever game in the beloved multimedia franchise, Combat Evolved is often thought of as the core Halo story, even if the events it chronicles don’t mark the beginning of Halo‘s Human-Covenant War. The game opens with the UNSC’s Pillar of Autumn emerging from slipspace and coming upon a massive ring-shaped world. Thanks to the Covenant, Captain Jacob Keyes is forced to crash-land on the Halo — Installation 04.

Before steering the Autumn into the Covenant’s Sacred Ring, Keyes entrusts the ship’s A.I., Cortana, to Master Chief. From there, the Spartan teams up with Cortana as they navigate scuffles with Covenant forces, learn more about what the Halo ring actually does, and encounter the parasitic Flood. At the end of Combat Evolved, Master Chief destroys Installation 04 instead of activating it after learning that the ring is a Forerunner superweapon capable of sterilizing the galaxy. With the Halo season 2 finale’s ending setting up most of these key elements, Halo season 3 is primed to adapt the story.

Halo Season 2 Ends With Master Chief & Cortana On The Halo Ring

John & Cortana Finally Reunite

In Halo season 2’s penultimate episode, Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) reunites with his Spartan armor on Onyx. With newfound resolve, the soldier takes a ship and heads straight for the Halo. Meanwhile, Makee (Charlie Murphy), the Covenant’s “blessed one,” and the Arbiter Var ‘Gatanai (Viktor Åkerblom) are racing toward the ring world too, which sparks fear in Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi). The ONI officer decides to send wave after wave of James Ackerson’s Spartan-IIIs at the Covenant forces, hoping at least one soldier will survive long enough to deliver a spike that destroys everything in the vicinity.

If anything, Parangosky’s insurance plan is Master Chief. She believes the Spartan will reach the Halo first and claim the superweapon for humanity. However, John-117 deserts his primary mission to save his fellow soldiers as well as Cortana (Jen Taylor; Christina Bennington). Trapped aboard Makee’s abandoned ship, Cortana, who’d been forcibly removed from Master Chief’s mind and body prior to season 2, is saved by the Spartan. Before crashing onto the Halo, Master Chief pulls Cortana from the ship’s systems and (seemingly) into his armor, which perfectly sets up the duo’s Halo: Combat Evolved dynamic.

The Halo Season 2 Finale Also Introduces The Flood

The Flood Is Established As The Series’ Greatest Threat

Although the Halo season 2 finale doesn’t feature the Pillar of Autumn or Danny Sapani’s Jacob Keyes, whose story changed irreversibly in season 2, it does have Master Chief and Cortana teaming up and crash-landing on the Forerunner installation. The show also sets up one of the franchise’s key antagonists: the Flood. In the previous episode, Dr. Halsey (Natascha McElhone) and Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray) discover a Forerunner scientist’s device containing a genetic sample. Unfortunately, Miranda’s fellow UNSC scientist is infected by said sample, which begins a base-wide problem as the Flood hijack UNSC and ONI personnel’s bodies.

There isn’t enough time for the Halo season 2 finale to delve into the history and origins of the Flood, but it certainly sets up a compelling season 3 premise. In fact, the Flood is responsible for almost every death in Halo season 2’s finale, which underscores just how much of a threat the parasitic superbeing poses. Although the Flood’s introduction differs from Combat Evolved, the dynamic remains the same. The Flood will grow so long as it has sentient lifeforms to consume; activating the Halo Array is a means of starving the Flood, but at a great cost.

Halo Season 3 Will Adapt Combat Evolved’s Story But With Some Big Changes

Kwan Ha, The Mother & Makee Are All New Additions To The Story

At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that Master Chief (and Cortana) has entered the Forerunner library on the ring world, and that he’s speaking with the monitor. A key character in Halo: Combat Evolved, 343 Guilty Spark is tasked with maintaining Installation 04. Once the Flood appear, the monitor is eager to contain the spread of the galaxy’s greatest threat, and uses what sets Halo‘s John apart to nearly activate the Halo Array. This seems like a natural plot beat for Halo season 3 to incorporate, but the Silver Timeline’s original characters add a bit of a wrinkle.

Surrounded by Flood-infected UNSC and ONI personnel on Onyx, Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) seems doomed. However, she’s saved by the mysterious Mother (Olwen Fouéré), a figure who’s appeared to her in vision form throughout the sophomore outing. The Mother, who calls Kwan a Protector, explains a little about the Flood’s intention, but Kwan’s destiny remains cloudy. On Installation 04, meanwhile, Makee is a new twist in Master Chief’s story. Clearly, the Covenant-raised human wants to use the superweapon to cleanse the galaxy and end the war in Halo season 3.