Where Was Halo Filmed? Filming Locations Explained | Screen Rant
Paramount+'s Halo TV series captured the video game's setting by creating alien planets such as Reach and Madrigal in studios across two continents.
The long-awaited Halo TV series features several stunning vistas right out of the video game source material. The first episode takes viewers from the desert outpost of Madrigal to the bustling headquarters of Reach with a brief stop on a Covenant homeworld. All of these locations, however, were largely created by special effects, with the Paramount+ series being shot on very earthly locations.
The Halo video games were so popular and influential that various forms of an adaptation had been in the works for over a decade before finally being released on Paramount+. Set in the far future, Halo tells the story of a war between the human United Nations Space Command and the mysterious alien Covenant. The Halo series' cast includes Pablo Schreiber as the iconic Master Chief and Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, a Madrigal teenager thrust into the heart of the war.
Halo was shot largely in the cities of Toronto, Canada, and Budapest, Hungary, both common filming locations. The series does a lot to transform these modern environments into futuristic planetscapes. Both cities played a key role in the Halo TV series' shooting process.
Halo began filming in Toronto in the fall of 2019. Reports suggest that the series completed filming its first five episodes and was in post-production when the outbreak COVID-19 pandemic forced filming to be suspended. Toronto is a very common filming location due to its diverse architecture and favorable tax breaks. While it usually stands in for American cities instead of Halo's alien planets, other sci-fi series like Star Trek: Discovery and The Expanse have also been filmed there.
Most of Halo's scenes, such as the interior scenes on Reach or aboard spaceships, were likely filmed on Toronto-area soundstages. The arid, red-skied environment of Madrigal is very distinct from temperate Southern Ontario, but the grass and thin trees in the scene where Kwan and her friends discover the Covenant ship do look distinctly like those that could be found in an Ontario park or other green space. It's possible that this scene was shot outdoors and run through a color filter for a more orange look while the Madrigal outpost itself was a set.
Later, it was reported that Halo resumed filming in Budapest in the summer of 2020 (via Variety). Hungary has also become a popular shooting location for Hollywood films, with big tentpoles such as Dune filming in Budapest at roughly the same time as Halo. The final four episodes of the series' first season were shot at Budapest's Korda Studio.
Based on the shooting schedule, it's likely that the Budapest-shot scenes will be in the second half of Halo season 1, although some of them could have been relocated to earlier in the season. Some exterior shots may also have been involved, but it seems that the majority of Halo was shot in-studio. Though it was filmed on two different continents, however, Paramount+'s Halo series largely created its science-fiction world using studio magic and special effects.
Halo releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.