Halo Season 2’s Ending, Explained

Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for Halo Season 2, Episode 8, “Halo.”

Paramount+ video game adaptation Halo just wrapped up its second season – and a lot goes down before the credits roll. So, with this in mind, we’ve explained all the key events from Halo Season 2’s ending below.

Related: Halo Season 2: Who Is the Dead Scientist?

Halo Season 2’s Ending, Explained

Halo Season 2, Episode 8, “Halo,” ends with John-117/The Master Chief and Makee both entering a Forerunner structure on Halo’s surface. An unspecified amount of time later, the Master Chief has a conversation with AI monitor 343 Guilty Spark in the structure’s darkened interior. Dialogue between the pair indicates that 343 Guilty Spark has also chatted with Makee, and is apparently weighing up whether to give control over Halo to her or the Master Chief.

When the Master Chief warns 343 Guilty Spark that Makee isn’t being straight with him, the floating AI decides to continue mulling over his two candidates’ suitability. 343 Guilty Spark then ominously declares he’ll be watching the Master Chief, before streaking off deeper into the bowels of the vast Forerunner structure. It’s worth noting that this scene is part of a wider sequence peppered throughout the episode that also teases something “dark” residing within the structure that the Chief’s destined to meet.

The other major development during Halo Season 2’s ending is the arrival of one of the video games’ most iconic antagonists, the Flood. This parasitic horde assimilates almost everyone stationed at ONI’s secret headquarters on Onyx, including Admiral Margaret Parangosky. Fortunately, Commander Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray) makes it out alive, putting her Flood-infected mother, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, in cryo-sleep before she goes. Parangosky’s estranged right-hand man James Ackerson also escapes the carnage on Onyx, along with Soren-066, Kessler, and Kwan Ha.

Related: Halo Season 2: What Is the Covenant’s Great Journey, Explained

How Does Halo Season 2’s Ending Set Up Season 3?

The most obvious narrative carry-over between Halo Season 2 and 3 is the Master Chief and Makee’s fight over Halo. She wants to use it to eradicate everyone but them from the galaxy; he wants her not to do that. To get the keys to Halo, the Master Chief or Makee will seemingly have to win over 343 Guilty Spark, so expect the chatty monitor to play a bigger role next time around. Then there’s the matter of the unseen force waiting in the Chief’s future. Is it something Forerunner-related? Or maybe the Flood’s quasi-leader, the Gravemind? Hopefully, we get some answers in Halo‘s third season.

Related: Halo Season 2: Onyx, Explained

And speaking of the Flood, now that they’re officially on the scene, it seems they’ll take over as the main threat in Halo Season 3. Season 2’s finale positions Kwan as one of the galaxy’s best hopes of keeping the Flood at bay – but exactly what makes her so special (not to mention desirable to the Flood itself) isn’t fully explained yet. She’ll presumably get some help from Miranda in the Flood-busting department, too. Oh, and don’t count out the Covenant, either. The end of Season 2 shows the alien alliance’s forces landing on Halo, so odds are good they’ll go head-to-head with humanity to colonize the ringworld in Season 3.

Halo Season 2 is currently streaming on Paramount+.