Who Is Julia? Halo Season 2’s Ackerson & Halsey Connection, Explained

Spoilers are ahead for Halo season 2, episode 3.

Halo season 2, episode 3 “Visegrád,” finally confirms the identity of Julia — the mysterious young woman who visits Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone) in her virtual reality-enabled prison cell on Reach. When it was revealed that Dr. Halsey, the creator of the Spartan program, is seemingly alive and well, Halo left viewers guessing about where, exactly, Dr. Halsey was during its early sophomore season episodes. Confined to a whitewashed room with sunlit windows, Dr. Halsey admires a fruit tree, plays backgammon, and contemplates her bizarre surroundings.

Luckily for the scientist, Halsey’s apparent isolation is interrupted time and again by a young red-headed woman, Julia. At first, Julia just delivers Halsey some tea and food, but, eventually, asks the former UNSC scientist to teach her the rules of backgammon. Halsey obliges, but seizes the opportunity to ask Julia about what exists beyond the confines of her well-appointed cell. Julia says there’s a hallway full of doors, though she’s not allowed to open them, and hints at James Ackerson’s (Joseph Morgan), Halsey’s replacement, being the one in charge of the facility.

Halo Season 2’s Julia Is A Flash Clone Of Ackerson’s Sister

After Halsey presses Julia for more information about the man in charge, the young woman’s nose bleeds and falls over. Seemingly, Julia dies right in front of Halsey, which frustrates the scientist more than anything else. While Halo season 2, episode 2’s ending hints at Julia’s true nature, the third episode confirms the character’s identity. In an earlier episode 3 scene, Ackerson visits his aging father. The moment, which sees Ackerson’s father reminiscing about the family’s home-world of Reach, serves to further humanize James Ackerson, who’s been set up as the season’s secondary antagonist.

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Even though Ackerson’s father has memory challenges, he recalls the very vital, secretive information his son confessed — presumably about the Covenant’s invasion of Reach. Ackerson laments that he can’t take his father with him; if Ackerson were to flee Reach and save his only living family member in the process, it might jeopardize the UNSC and ONI’s larger scheme. At one point, Ackerson’s father mentions James’ sister, Julia. Ackerson is quick to remind his father that she died years ago, confirming that the Julia who visits Dr. Halsey is a flash clone.

Halsey Killed The Real Julia In The Spartan Program

While the scene with Ackerson’s father confirms that the Julia variants who’ve visited Halsey are flash clones of James’ sister, the episode provides more backstory about the minor Halo character. Before fleeing Reach, Ackerson visits Halsey one last time to tell the scientist that her efforts weren’t in vain — that the Spartans are primed to “become the foundation of something extraordinary.” Although Ackerson remains vague about his plans for the Spartan program, it’s evident that he’s using them as scapegoats; Ackerson has previously made his distaste for the supersoldiers clear.

Before Ackerson leaves, Halsey asks him if he wants to know how his sister died, revealing that Julia was one of the children Dr. Halsey had planned to turn into a Spartan. Halsey explains that Julia was curious — not unlike the flash clone version of the Halo character — but that she wasn’t able to survive the augmentation process. Unable to understand why she was dying, Julia died scared. “Even though she wouldn’t see it, she’d be a small part of the next step forward,” Halsey tells Ackerson, echoing his own hollow words about sacrifice.

Why Ackerson Brings Julia To His Father At The End Of Halo Season 2 Episode 3

The Halo TV show has been clear about Dr. Halsey’s abduction of children — and that she experimented on them in order to create the Spartan program. Julia was just one of many subjects, but the young girl’s death at Dr. Halsey’s hands clarifies why Ackerson is so skeptical of the Spartans’ purpose. At the end of the episode, Ackerson says a final farewell to his father, who wants to die on Reach but not as a result of the Covenant invasion. As such, James provides his father with a life-ending pill.

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While he can’t save his father by taking him off of Reach, Ackerson can spare his last remaining family member from the Covenant’s sure-to-be brutal attack. Since Ackerson doesn’t want his father to die alone, Ackerson brings one of the Julia flash clones with him, so that she can be by his father’s side until the end. It’s unclear whether Ackerson’s father is lucid enough to realize that it’s not really his daughter. Regardless, it’s a small act of love — especially by the Halo antagonist’s standards.