Mike Colter, an actor on the tv show “Good Wife” has been tapped to star in the digital feature. Several sites are reporting this. I got the following from Nerdist.com:

Structured similarly to Machinima’s Halo: Forward Unto Dawn and written by Paul Scheuring, the digital project will not follow the Master Chief we know and love. Rather, it will follow a different 26th century surgically-enhanced super soldier. Colter is likely to play a new character named Marlowe, who TheWrap describes as a “rising star in a futuristic army who is troubled by aspects of the military industrial complex he inhabits. Approaching combat situations with caution and logic, he inspires loyalty in his fellow Spartans.” Sounds like a real stand up guy, eh? Although considering Ridley Scott is producing, I’d say the chances of him being a secret robot are pretty damn high.

Now this is interesting news. We suspected this wouldn’t follow Master Chief as it’s likely that 343 wants to keep him for the next Halo game. So the question is, will Colter’s character be a Spartan II, III, or IV? I’m going to go with IV here. In part due to the description above. “troubled by aspects of the military industrial complex”. This is not something Spartan IIs were known for. Even Spartan IIIs, while a being a little bit of loose canons didn’t typically think like this. However, Spartan IVs, YES. Since they were brought into the program at adult ages, they already come with experience of the outside world. So those feelings could carry over.

In any event, I’m glad to find SOMETHING about the show. Now we know it WILL have Spartans for sure.

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-Sal

This is a reblog of an article from IGN, by Scott Collura.

We’ve been hearing rumors about a potential Halo movie for the past decade, with Alien and Blade Runner director Ridley Scott’s name being associated with the project as far back as 2004 and as recently as this past January. And now it looks like the rumors are becoming a reality… sort of.

According to Microsoft, a “digital feature project” based on the Halo game series is in fact in the works from 343 Industries, Xbox Entertainment Studios, and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions. The feature will be released later this year and will be executive produced by Scott and Scott Free TV President David Zucker. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Battlestar Galactica, Heroes) will direct the feature.

Now, what is a “digital feature project” rather than a film, you might be wondering? It’s all a bit vague right now, but it seems likely that this is not something that will get a theatrical release. The Wrap is reporting that the project is expected to follow the same format as Machinima’s Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which obviously was delivered on the web.

HFFL: Okay, this is pretty cool. Though I know many of we fans would really love to see an actual Halo movie in theaters. Still, Forward Unto Dawn was a fantastic web series.

The site adds that the story will follow a “surgically-enhanced super soldier who isnot Master Chief” and that Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring may write the digital feature.

HFFL: Hmm, Not Master Chief? Okay, I’m still sticking with Spartan Gabriel Thorne here. He’s now become fire team Majestic’s team leader. If not him, then maybe Commander Palmer.

Additionally, Microsoft points out that this is “completely separate from the premium Halo television series executive produced by Steven Spielberg, which is still on track.” Back in January we’d heard that District 9’s Neill Blomkamp was directing the pilot for that project. Further confusing matters, Blomkamp had also worked on a now-defunct feature film version of Halo a few years back…

HFFL: Okay, so we’re getting a TV series AND a web series? I’m all for that! More Halo!!!

It should also be noted that Mimica-Gezzan is a Spielberg collaborator, having served as first assistant director on many of his films. So there are a lot of big names in the mix here, but not many details yet.

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I got word from an acting friend of mine that as much as they know about the tv show, it takes place roughly 20 years before the events of the Forward Unto Dawn (FUD) mini-series. THEN, it jumps to much later.

How much later they didn’t say. Though it seems to be after the events of the classic trilogy of games.

So, on just that small tidbit, let’s take a look at what was happening roughly 20 years prior to the Forward Unto Dawn mini-series to see what this may be about.

First and foremost, that time frame puts it before Master Chief was even born. Chief is a year younger than Tom Lasky, future Commander of the UNSC Infinity. So during the FUD series, that puts him (Chief) at 18 years of age. We know this because, Lasky was a freshman at Corbulo military academy at the age of 19 in the year 2529.

As stated the story takes place 20 years before that (at least or approximately). So again, no Chief. So then, what was going on in the year 2509 or shortly before that? We can cross off any adventures of the Spirit of Fire (as a military ship). Why? Because the Spirit of Fire wasn’t recommissioned as a military vessel until 2520. Or at the least that was when it was requisitioned by the UNSC directly after retirement of the Spirit of Fire‘s last civilian Captain.

The war with the Covenant hadn’t started yet either, so we can cross that off too. This leads me to a few exciting possibilities.

Admiral Preston Cole
By 2509 Preston Cole has already been a part of the UNSC for more than 20 years. Cole is the man responsible for the Cole Protocol. The Cole Protocol is a measure that was enacted by then Admiral Cole to prevent Covenant forces from finding the location of human worlds, specifically core human worlds, and most specifically Earth. To do this, ships were to jump into random slipspace paths instead of jumping to a human controlled world. As well, if a UNSC ship was in imminent danger of capture, the crew were to wipe clean the it’s memory banks, then was to self-distruct.

Preston Cole is considered by many Halo fans (of the lore) to be the first hero of the UNSC as we’ve learned through the novels. Though of course more novels may be written in the future that take place before this timeline. However, at present, this is the story we know. Having him as a lead character or a strong supporting character makes absolute sense.

INSURRECTIONISTS!
It totally fits the timeline. The story can be about the progression of the insurrection. It can also include the rise of the UNSC and dismantling of the CMA (Colonial Military Administration). In 2497 the CMA is shown to be in league with rebel forces (early insurrectionists). By 2525, the CMA was effectively reduced to being meaningless.

The Orion Project
Now this doesn’t quite fit the timeline as the program on it’s second go around ended some time in 2506. However, if the 20 years was an approximation, then this might just be possible. If so, then guess who that introduces to the story? That bad ass himself…Sgt Avery Junior Johnson! Johnson is associated with the Orion project. If the story isn’t about the Orions per say, and it does take place a few year later, Johnson could most certainly be a main/supporting/recurring character.

Catherine Halsey
In the year 2507, Halsey had already wrote her second thesis regarding archaic line commands. Around this time she also had a hand in 3rd-gen Smart A.I.s. In the year 2510 Halsey buys a journal on Reach. This journal is of note. If you bought the Legendary edition of Halo Reach, you have a copy of that journal, coffee stains and all… Much was detailed in it, including her idea for the Spartan II program.

I consider the Halsey theory to be the most plausible, though ALL of them could be intertwined as they happen around the same time. Should the Halo TV series be a success (and it damn well better be!!), it would then be safe to assume that we would see the creation of the Spartan II program; Halsey’s early relationship with Jacob Keyes, future Captain of the Pillar of Autumn; the “recruitment” of the children who would go on to be Spartans, including John-117 (Master Chief); and then the early training of Chief from his childhood, teens, then early adulthood years.

The Future story
As for the info from my actor friend about the story also taking place many years later, since we all already know Master Chief’s story through Halo’s 1-4, those years really do not need to be covered again (though of course I’m sure most of us would like to see it made as a tv show or movie). Instead, it is very likely the timeline of the UNSC Infinity after the events of Halo 4. In fact, either during or after the events of Halo Escalation the comic book.

Whew, a LOT can be theorized from just ONE sentence…

What are your thoughts on this?
-Sal