Halo showrunner Steven Kane revealed the creative team behind the upcoming Paramount+ series avoided looking at the video games that inspired it.

Kane discussed the Halo games' influence on the genesis of the show in a recent interview with Variety. "We didn't look at the game. We didn't talk about the game. We talked about the characters and the world. So I never felt limited by it being a game," he said.

Related: Halo Star Addresses Comparisons to The Mandalorian, Explains Differences

Actor Pablo Schreiber, who plays Halo's protagonist The Master Chief, confirmed that the cast and crew nevertheless benefited from their source material's well-established backstory. "The richness and the depth of the universe was immediately kind of mind-boggling," explained Schreiber. "And incredibly exciting, because what it means as a storyteller is that there’s already been a huge amount of preparation and groundwork."

The Halo series has come under fire from some fans in recent months due to changes it has made to the canon of the video games and other tie-in media. The most notable controversy to date followed the news that the Master Chief will remove his helmet in the show -- fully revealing the series protagonist's face for the first time. Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill defended the decision at the time, writing, "With the television series, we want to take you on [Master Chief's] journey and let you experience, as a viewer, his story and evolution from an external, subjective viewpoint; for that, it felt important to see [Master Chief] outside of his armor."

Related: New Halo Trailer Offers a Better Look at the Paramount+ Series

Halo's redesign of artificial intelligence Cortana also drew some fans' ire shortly after the first Halo trailer dropped. Unlike her blue-skinned and glowing video game counterpart, the Cortana of the show sports a markedly different, more human look. Wolfkill also justified this creative choice, in a recent interview. "In this situation, it's so very different from the games in that [Cortana] has to feel real... She has to feel like a real AI, a real hologram, and be a character that real people are acting against," Wolfkill said.

These controversies don't appear to have shaken the confidence Paramount+ has in the series. The streaming service announced it was renewing Halo for a second season, at a February investor presentation. Fear the Walking Dead veteran David Wiener will replace Steven Kane as showrunner for the second series, although the Season 1 showrunner expects to remain attached to the show as a consultant.

Halo premieres on Paramount+ on March 24.

Keep reading: Halo TV Guide: News, Easter Eggs, Reviews, Theories And Rumors

Source: Variety