Xbox is getting in on the original programming game with an upcoming live-action digital series titled Halo Nightfall, which will debut its first episode during the live-stream HaloFest event on November 10th. Xbox One owners who pick up Halo: The Master Chief Collection the next day will have access to the entire series.
Based on the wildly successful video game franchise, Nightfall boasts a pretty stellar pedigree – it was executive produced by Ridley Scott (Alien, Black Hawk Down), directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezza (Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies), and scribed by Paul Scheuring, the creator of Prison Break. In particular, one can see Scott’s fingerprints all over Nightfall in the below trailer – it showcases the same sort of sci-fi gothic horror feel that the director established in Alien and Prometheus.
That the series looks so distinctly cinematic is a pleasant surprise and should help to make what appears to be a fairly formulaic story go down easier. From what we can tell, Nightfall explores a failed attempt by the Office of Naval Intelligence to harness a substance that only kills humans and rework it to be used in the war against the religious, alien Covenant.
The presence of Mike Colter (The Good Wife) as protagonist Agent Locke, who also plays a major role in the upcoming video game Halo 5: Guardians, is also highly intriguing. Christina Chong, Steven Waddington, Luke Neal and Alexis Rodney co-star in Halo Nightfall, which is expected to consist of five episodes in total, to be released weekly starting next month.
Halo Nightfall is a live action series providing insight into the origin and backstory of legendary manhunter Agent Locke (Mike Colter, “The Good Wife”), a pivotal new character in the Halo universe who will play a key role in Halo 5: Guardians. A strange and treacherous world exposes elite UNSC operatives to a much deeper danger.