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Ridley Scott

'Halo' live-action series gets fleshed out at Comic-Con

Mike Snider
USA TODAY

Make room, Master Chief. Microsoft's Xbox sci-fi saga Halo is getting another leading man.

The upcoming live-action series Halo: Nightfall will chronicle the story of Jameson Locke, an agent with the Office of Naval Intelligence who eventually becomes an armored Spartan like the Master Chief.

Promotional art from the upcoming digital live-action series 'Halo: Nightfall.'

At Comic-Con today in San Diego, the creative team behind the series, due later this year, offered the first public discussion of the project. On hand were franchise director Frank O'Connor and executive producer Kiki Wolfkill of 343 Industries, the studio that oversees all things Halo at Microsoft.

They were joined by David Zucker of Scott Free Productions, the Ridley Scott-owned TV and film studio co-producing the series, and actor Mike Colter (The Good Wife), who will play Locke.

"It seemed like a really exciting and palpable partnership to bring the visionary that is Ridley is, in collaboration with a historic franchise like Halo," said Zucker, who is president of Scott Free and has executive produced The Good Wife and Numb3rs. He, Wolfkill and lead writer Paul Scheuring (A Man Apart, Prison Break) talked to USA TODAY before the fan fest.

At left, Mike Colter ('The Good Wife') plays Jameson Locke in 'Halo: Nightfall'; at right is Steve Waddington, who plays Randall Aiken. On the set in Northern Ireland.

With work underway on Halo 5: Guardians and the Halo: Master Chief Collection, remastered versions of all four main Halo games due Nov. 11, the Halo creative team wanted to produce a live-action drama to bridge Halo 4, originally released two years ago and the next game due 2015.

Planned to be five episodes that amount to a movie-length feature, Halo:Nightfall will be included with the Master Chief Collection and play on Xbox Live later this year.

The 343 Industries team had experimented linear video storytelling before with Halo Legends, a collection of animated episodes, and Halo Forward Unto Dawn, a five-part live-action video Halo 4 prequel.

"We wanted to take the next step in terms of storytelling … (by) creating a connected story leading up to Halo 5," Wolfkill says.

Master Chief, who survived Halo 4, remains the star of Halo 5 and the main playable character. But Locke will be a main character, too, so an origin story that gives players "time to learn more about him before experiencing him in the game was another big motivation," Wolfkill says

While it is supposedly a time of peace between the United Nations Space Command (USNC) and their former alien adversaries, the Covenant, proxy wars and terrorist acts are occurring on an outer colony called Sedra. An unknown new technology is being used against them and, as a commander in the Special Forces-like ONI, Locke is sent in to investigate. During the mission they find an ancient artifact and things get complicated.

The story will explore ONI and Locke, who will return as a Spartan in Halo 5, "learns a little bit about what it means to be a hero and a leader," she says.

Microsoft has to squash rumors earlier this year that Ridley Scott was directing a Halo movie. But 343 did meet with the Blade Runner director to "talk about the Halo universe and see if there was interest in (him) playing in that space," Wolfkill says, "and there was, which was magical for us."

Scott tapped Zucker to co-produce the project with him, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Battlestar Galactica, Pillars of the Earth, Heroes) to direct and Scheuring to write.

On the set of 'Halo: Nightfall' in Northern Ireland, 343 Industries executive producer Kiki Wolfkill (at left) talks to actor Luke Neal, who plays the character Michael Bradley Horrigan.

Shot was take in Iceland.

Shooting has already finished in Northern Ireland and Iceland, a location Scott used for Prometheus. "I don't think there's a better location to evoke that otherworldly aspect," Zucker says.

The shoot in rugged terrain and inclement weather suits the story, Scheuring says. Locke's team and the local forces "very quickly realize that they have bitten off more than they can chew and it ultimately pits them against each other," he says. "It really becomes a survival story and where do those ideals of duty and loyalty that you have as a soldier break down and when do you start to think about yourself, as opposed to the team."

Also on the panel: Christina Chong (24: Live Another Day), whose plays Talitha Macer, a soldier in the colonial guard on Sedra, the location of the story. "Part of the story is: when you bring these super high-tech ONI agents to this sort of backwater planet, how do those two military groups come together on a common mission?" Wolfkill says.

Halo: Nightfall itself has two missions, she says. "To both excite the existing Halo fans, but to also hopefully bring new people into the universe. But the top priority is to tell a great story."

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