The world of the Halo TV series requires sophisticated design, in order to get larger than life video game ideas into every Paramount+ episode. For the second season, Cowboy Bebop‘s Jane Holland joined as costume designer and took on the challenge. I spoke with Jane after the conclusion of Season 2 to talk about moving into the Halo universe and her experience working on the much talked-about show, including which of the many memorable pieces she considers her best work.

Brittany Frederick: You took over costume design duties on Halo for Season 2. What goes into coming into an existing series, and maintaining its template while also bringing your input?

Jane Holland: I didn’t just take over from [Halo Season 1 designer Jill M. Ohanneson]; I took over from a designer that prepped Season 1 as well—so I had a double banger, and I landed in the show quite late… I had to come to terms with what the show is and get to know it, understand all of the creative that was already in place, and then work out my own interface with it.

My approach is respectful. We are a collaborative industry. Between departments, we rely on collaboration to get something made… I’m not interested in stamping my mark for the sake of stamping my mark. I just come in as a creative with what I have to offer.

On top of that, though, you’re working within a world that’s seen multiple video game titles and an animated adaptation. How do you take all that on board without being overwhelmed by information?

There’s always a research process with something like Halo. There’s an enormous amount of information to work with, and working out where to move with it. I’m not alone [in] that. We had Kiki Wolfkill, who’s an extraordinary representative for Halo, and she was very, very much connected with the showrunner and directors, who are all bringing their own creative voice. And there’s the production designer [and] there’s the other heads of department.

With an action show like Halo, there’s a certain amount of practicality. My design is always about aesthetic, for sure, but also about function. There is a way of drilling down into what actually needs to happen.. An example of being very much informed by the Halo franchise is the design of the SPARTAN-IIIs, which was driven by me and the costume department in Hungary, in collaboration with FBFX in London, who were a specialized company [that] had made the SPARTAN-IIs.

We had really strong imagery, but it was imagery that was designed for the screen. It wasn’t designed to work on people. How do you retain the aesthetic, but make it work on a human? Not only how do you make it work on a human, but how do you make it work on a human who’s going to be blasted through space and all of this stuff is going to happen to them?

This is not the first adaptation that you’ve done. One example is your work on Netflix’s version of the Cowboy Bebop anime. Is there any sort of common guideline for adaptations or is each one something you have to craft an individual game plan for?

You have to come into every project fresh, but I do think that there is a design language that I have… It’s really about what each show requires, and they are all different… When you’re talking about genre [projects], you could be excused for thinking that the costumes might look like other costumes, but from a design point of view, when you look at them, they’re not necessarily the same. They might be using the same materials, exploring the same sort of technology, or there will be influences in them, but the decisions that are made are quite different.

And when I read a script, I go in without any preconceptions. I try to read the script cold… I don’t get the name of a project and automatically find every image I possibly can. I try and have my own interface with the material that we’re working with, so that I can find my own creative hook into the world and find the things that are going to get my mind buzzing in a creative way. And then I interface with the material after that.

What would you consider your design highlights from Halo Season 2, whether it’s because of the finished product or because they were memorable for you?

The first costume I designed and the last costume I designed were both [for] Makee… I had arrived from New Zealand to Hungary, and I had to design a Makee costume that was on screen in a week. Major character, and so I really connected with her character, because that was my baptism by fire. But also because I think that I brought something new to where she was going. She was evolving as a character.

We wanted there to be a link with Season 1 and there’s this beautiful lace, like a black wave lace, that was used in Season 1 costumes, and that was my starting point. I looked at the Season 1 costumes, which [were] intricate and beautiful, but she needed to move in a different way… I was designing a costume that was almost modular. That could fulfill the ceremonial moments, but also one that could move and change with what she needed to do. The design lines of that first costume I designed continued through, and then at the end, we sort of made an armor version of it. Which followed her [character] trajectory.

The costumes of Aleria—that was just a unique planet… We made this whole room full of oversized puffer tunics, coats, enormous hoods. The whole idea was that it was industrial insulating material that they’d made into their clothing. We were filming up on the plains outside of Budapest in the middle of winter… There was no protection, so [the costumes[ had to function as well. We started off with this quite bright foil, which then we hit with a lot of breakdown, as if they’re coated in tar and other products to make them waterproof. There was just this sort of sea of material; the stitches were sort of buried underneath these huge costumes. [But] when we put them all together, lined them all up and put them on these plains, and you [didn’t] have the perspective of scale, there was something really cool about the silhouettes. They were oversized, sculptural, but also felt very handmade and vintage.

The greatest triumph was the SPARTAN-IIIs, because we had a very short period of time to make them. We had to make a lot of it in house. We got FBFX to make all the armor pieces, and then we put them together with the undersuits. Everything has to be tailor-made; it’s not a one size fits all, so technically [it was] really challenging within the timeframe that we had for them. They were not started in prep. They were started when we were into the shoot, and they worked really well. I’m really proud of those and, and I can look at the images that came from Microsoft that we were then turning into things that fitted on the human body.

Halo Season 2 is now streaming on Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.