'A huge mistake': Master Chief actor Pablo Schreiber rails against Halo TV show sex scene, says he 'wasn't listened to' when he argued against it

(Image credit: Paramount+)

In 1895, our forefathers watched a train arrive at La Ciotat station. In 1969, families gathered to watch mankind take its first tentative steps beyond the surface of our planet. In 2022, Master Chief had sex.

It was the television event of the century, but it turns out not everyone was on board. In a recent chat with SFX magazine (via GamesRadar), Master Chief actor Pablo Schreiber revealed that he was adamantly against John-117's hook-up with Covenant spy Makee. I mean really adamant. He's not mincing words here, telling SFX that making John and Makee an item in the show's first season was "a huge mistake."

Schreiber makes it sound like he really dug his heels in, too, but to no avail. "I argued against it and fought against it," he said, "But I am who I am. I don't write the scripts. I only give my opinion." Alas, "It wasn't listened to."

Schreiber reflects a lot of fan sentiment on the thorny issue of Big John's love life. When the episode in question aired back in 2022, fan communities weren't thrilled by the narrative decision, feeling it was a misunderstanding of the character from the games. If you Google "Master Chief sex Reddit," like I just did while at work, you can still find traces of the fallout.

"That is non canon and we do not need to talk about it," reads the top-rated comment on a Reddit thread titled "We exist in a world where we witnessed Master Chief lose his virginity."

I poke fun because ultimately the notion of a big green steel man making love is very funny, but some of the fan criticisms have a point. All the stuff about Master Chief's apparently canonical lack of interest in sex—an effect of his Spartan training—aside, plenty of people pointed out that Makee was essentially a prisoner of war in the context of the show at the time, an issue the show never really remarked upon.

"Like who wrote it? Then who approved it? Then who greenlit it to film? Needed too many people to OK that for no good reason," asked an exasperated Halo fan named Matrix0523 on Reddit last year.

Perhaps the combined outcry of both fans and Schreiber himself will see Paramount change course with the Halo TV show's narrative when it comes back for season 2 on February 8. Or perhaps not. Love always finds a way.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.