Paramount Plus has now given Halo fans a proper look at the upcoming live-action series premiering on March 24th.
It's been previously noted by Halo's Transmedia boss Kiki Wolfkill how the live-action series won't be 'core-canon'. It's being referred to as "Halo Silver" - meaning it exists in its own timeline and will not impact other Halo media, like the games or books. And it's being done to "protect" the series.
Despite this, it seems not everyone is happy with the look of Cortana (played by Jen Taylor, the video game voice of Cortana) in this particular timeline - with many calling for a version of her that's blue, or at least "bluer" than she is now. An alternative colour request is purple - a throwback to Cortana's younger years.
Some fans have even gone to the extent of applying their own fixes. Here's one that's gained traction across the Halo and Xbox subreddits:
This doesn't appear to be an isolated case, either. YouTube channel Alanah Pearce called for similar adjustments to the character:
"My immediate reaction is that I hate that...if you're gonna do a digitally altered face just make it completely blue...I could be overeacting, but that is my gut reaction - I don't love this."
And others on social media agree - while some don't, suggesting Cortana is already blue enough in the trailer:
What do you think of this live-action "non-canon" version of Cortana? Give us your own thoughts down below.
Comments 15
Watched the trailer with my wife (in the hope to excite her enough to watch it together lol) and was going well untill Cortana popped up on screen. I had to say they've got her wrong.
Comparisons to the Sonic movie are accurate, but with a release date of just a month I get the feeling it's not going to be changed. And with as important a character as Cortana looking so "alien" it's going to be hard for me to get over it.
Didn't even realise it was Cortana initially. Off.
With everything else looking so good (apart from maybe the Krogan looking Elites) it's so odd for them to get such a major character so wrong 🤔
Hoping for change. Not likely though at this stage.
I personally like the less blue version for the show. It fits the look of the the show more than the heavy blue version that fan put out. If it was an animated show then I'd probably prefer the blue version but the current look fits a live action show better.
God forbid they differ in any way in their interpretation of the source material. What a travesty.
I just hope that I can muster the energy to feign to care about whatever the next faux outrage in the gaming news cycle is. It gets boring not having anything to shake my pitchfork at.
Purple Cortana is real Cortana. Blue Cortana is bad Cortana. We all know this to be true......
Seriously, though, what are people griping about? In a world where they have Starlord voicing Mario and Jack Black voicing Bowser, 343 actually didn't screw something up for once and we get the real Cortana as Cortana in live action. Cortana's voice is Cortana more than anything else, and they actually cast her, and have her looking like Cortana! STFU and appreciate this for a minute!
My interest went from "less than zero like all video game adaptations" to "this is kinda intriguing" on seeing this.
(Edit: Ok, I just saw the rest of the trailer and it's a generic action flick at best and doesn't feel like Halo at all. Not actually interested, but I do want to see the Cortana parts because it's darned cool to get a VA doing the role live action)
This is what gamers are moaning about? Sad just sad. Who literally cares?
@themightyant Who else would it have been? Since it's not canon, Mrs. Chief?
My initial reaction to seeing her wasn't exactly positive, but looking at it again it doesn't help that she's in front of a blue background. It's possible she'll look a bit different during the actual show in regular scenes. They got Jen to play the part, which is the most important thing anyways.
@KilloWertz Lol. Just though she was another random character at first, then figured she might be another AI, then finally realised she was meant to be Cortana when she spoke and my mind rebelled.
To be fair that process only took a few moments, but gut instinct is often right. Hopefully they will fix this in post, not a lot needs to change. Or more likely we'll get used to it.
The show looks like a bad episode of Doctor Who.
I'm going to go ahead and agree with the moaners here.
Giving the character a more human hue makes it look like a digital ad or like the Spirits Within movie. Like that character could actually be a human just futuristically facetiming you.
Giving Cortana her overly blue hue conveys that she's not a human. She's an AI. What you are looking at is the real thing, not a representation of the real thing.
So you can complain about the complaints but visual story telling is important.
I wasn't really bothered by Cortana's colour, the costume looks a bit sparkly and naff but the real problem is the CGI face, which has major uncanny valley issues. Couldn't they have just painted Jen Taylor light blue and put a bit of CGI glow over her?
@Microbius I agree completely. So many people are complaining, but I really don’t see it as that big of a deal, is it accurate to the show? No. It doesn’t bother me though. My coworker was fuming about it. I told him to go play the game if it matters that much.
Wow. A lot of fanboyism trying to shut down criticism. and surprise, surprise, it just so happens to be another woke recreation. This is a tired, tired old trend. But sure, let me recreate your favorite meal, serve you poop on the plate, then have someone tell you... "Oh, what's the big deal? Next you'll tell me I can't throw it in your face either!?" Bath faith argument from the getgo.
Seems fine to me... better than "Weapon's" weird, individually modelled teeth. Now that looked horrible!
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