The Halo TV series timeline further explained by 343 Industries

Just as DC and Marvel have separate movie universes, so will the upcoming TV series based on Halo. We've told you about this before, but in a post on Halo Waypoint, we now learn more about what will separate the TV series from the games, and why they chose to do it this way.

Executive producer Frank O'Connor says that the TV series and the games will mostly be very similar, but that there are areas where they differ in chronology, characters who appear (or don't), and so on. He writes:

"The TV show timeline - the 'Silver Timeline' - is grounded in the universe, characters and events of what's been established in core canon, but will differ in subtle and not so subtle ways in order to tell a grounded, human story, set in the profoundly established Halo universe. Where differences and branches arise, they will do so in ways that make sense for the show, meaning that while many events, origins, character arcs, and outcomes will map to the Halo story fans know, there will be surprises, differences, and twists that will run parallel, but not identically to core canon."

The reason for choosing to create your own universe is that the development of a game does not always lend itself to film adaptation. O'Connor further explains:

"We want to use the existing Halo lore, history, canon, and characters wherever they make sense for a linear narrative, but also separate the two distinctly so that we don't invalidate the core canon or do unnatural things to force a first-person video game into an ensemble TV show. The game canon and its extended lore in novels, comics, and other outlets is core, original, and will continue unbroken for as long as we make Halo games."

The Halo series is a ten-episode blockbuster with a budget of $200 million, and on Sunday we'll see the first trailer featuring Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief. The first episode premieres on Paramount+ in the spring.