It’s almost time: At long last, Halo 5: Guardians is almost here. And as its October 27 launch date barrels toward us like an oncoming Spartan Charge, we’ve prepped one of the biggest, baddest launch celebrations ever. At 6:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, October 26, we’ll be running our six-hour Halo 5: Live broadcast, culminating with Halo 5: Guardians’ North American launch at midnight.

Ahead of Monday, we wanted to preview details about two of our favorite segments.

We recently got a peek at the Halo 5: Guardians Writers’ Roundtable, an exclusive behind-the-scenes chat between the game’s creative team and Nathan Fillion, who voices Spartan Buck in Halo 5: Guardians (to say nothing of “Firefly,” “Castle,” and all of his other amazing credentials over the years).

Fillion recalls the first time he played Halo (and what his character, Buck, is like), the team gives players an idea of what to expect in the opening hours of Halo 5: Guardians, and the writers discuss some important differences between writing video games and TV shows. Fillion also talks about the motion capture process, and how different it is than acting in a typical TV or film role. You’ll get a good idea of the back-and-forth that happened during the Halo 5: Guardians creative process. Finally, the team talks about the levels that they’re most proud of designing – and discusses the best way for series newcomers to approach the game.

Second, we’ll be debuting a special behind-the-scenes video on “Halo: The Fall of Reach,” the upcoming animated series based on Erik Nylund’s 2001 novel. “Halo: The Fall of Reach” unveils the origin of the Spartan-II program, Blue Team, and the soldier who would eventually become the Master Chief. In this making-of video, the Halo team discusses the making of this unique animated series, and its importance to the Halo saga.

You’ll learn more about animation firm The Sequence Group’s unique visual style, how composer Tom Salta made the series’ beautiful music, and how top-tier voice actors can make all the difference. With the major role that Blue Team plays in Halo 5: Guardians, this the perfect time to find out more about their history. It’s a fascinating look at what’s shaping up to be awesome animated experience.

Halo 5: Live will unite millions of Halo fans worldwide – allowing them to watch, comment, and virtually participate in a multitude of launch celebrations held in key international cities. No matter who you are or where you’re located, you can join in on the fun leading up to 2015’s biggest video game launch.

You can find an exhaustive list of what we’ve got planned in our initial Halo 5: Live announcement post. It’s almost here – and we’re just as excited as you are to finally dive into Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One!