Halo’s Master Chief has largely remained a faceless and – outside the occasional one-liners – mostly silent protagonist in the Xbox-branded first-person shooter franchise. However, the character’s recently-debuted Halo series has quite literally pulled back the helmet to portray a much more human iteration of Spartan John-117, regularly showing the face of Chief actor Pablo Schreiber and sometimes even dressing him down from the iconic Mjolnir armor.

While such changes have stirred a debate about canon and accuracy, the Halo TV show has now rolled even further with this idea with the debut of a fully naked Master Chief. Occurring midway through Episode 3, the scene isn’t completely out of the blue, depicting Chief as he attempts to bypass his Spartan augmentations, specifically a device in his spine that dampens his emotions. Of course, removal involves Chief stripping down to his birthday suit as he digs the probe out of his body.

Although surprising, with this context in mind, a nude Master Chief makes a fair bit of sense for the Halo TV show, especially as it might be weirder (and possibly kinkier?) to keep the helmet on in this situation. As one might expect, social media exploded following the grand unveiling of “Master Cheeks,” with reactions ranging from existential crises, to humourous memes and compliments levied at Schreiber’s impressive Spartan physique.

Considering the show’s placement on a premium streaming service and therefore, outside the conventions of cable, nudity may have already been a given for the Halo TV show. With the “streaming wars” greenlighting all sorts of content in recent years, perhaps Spartan booty might be the key to keeping viewership high for Paramount Plus. Also, as Pablo Schreiber spent considerable time getting into shape for the iconic video game role, it might be a shame if he didn’t get to fully show off his “assets” in some capacity.

Before being overshadowed by the Chief’s peach, the new Halo series episode was mostly hyped by the arrival of Cortana, the capable AI companion from the games. After hinting at the blue-hued character, Cortana was finally brought online, acting as a reluctant ally to Chief as he dismisses UNSC protocols, even assisting him with his butt-bearing ambitions mentioned above. As the two just met, it’ll probably be a while before the two establish their familiar camaraderie from the games, but something tells me that full-rear nudity might just push things along.

​What do you think? Are you a fan of the new Halo series thus far, or have you clapped back against the idea of “Master Cheeks”? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day!​

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