An accidental posting by Variety on Monday gave us out first look at Agent Locke in the upcoming Halo: Nightfall video series from Microsoft and 343 Industries. The live-action series is tied to this year’s Halo: Master Chief Collection and next year’s Halo 5: Guardians for the Xbox One and stars Mike Colter in the role as the new Spartan that has everyone curious.
The image itself does not reveal much beyond Colter’s non-Spartan armored look for Halo: Nightfall , but the character is a critical part of the upcoming games. The live-action series directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott and Scott Free TV president David Zucker serves as an origin story and a way to broaden the appeal of Halo to a wider audience.
Not much is known about Locke as a character other than that he is part of the Spartan program, he is part of Oni and he is disillusioned by the military industrial complex that the Earth government has fostered out of necessity due to the Human-Covenant war.
Colter previously played Lemond Bishop in the CBS series, The Good Wife , and has made appearances in American Horror Story and Zero Dark Thirty as well. The Xbox tie-in is his first opportunity to take a lead role in a TV series, but it comes at the same time that Microsoft is shutting down its Xbox Entertainment Studios division.
He will be joined by Christna Chong as an unannounced female lead in Halo: Nightfall , according to The Wrap .
Halo: Nightfall and the upcoming Halo live-action series produced by Steven Spielberg are among the shows currently in production that will be spared the cut and it’s easy to see why. Halo has been an Xbox cash cow with the live action web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn that led into Halo 4 was generally well received by fans and non-fans alike.
Microsoft and 343 Industries will be at the San Diego Comic-Con this week to fully introduce Agent Locke and Halo: Nightfall . There will be an hour-long panel on Thursday, July 24 at 11:45 a.m. PT where executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and Franchise Director Frank O’Connor will be joined by Colter and the rest of the cast and crew to reveal details of the story and production.
Halo: Nightfall will be released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection this November 11. The collection includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary , Halo 2 Anniversary , Halo 3 and Halo 4 all running at 1080p and 60 fps (wish one possible exception ). It also includes access to the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta due to launch in December. Nightfall will also be available through Xbox LIVE for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 as well as Windows Phone and Surface tablets.
[Via Variety Web Cache ]