Halo: The Fall of Reach, the animated series made to coincide with the launch of Halo 5: Guardians, received its first trailer at San Diego Comic Con.
The series is based on the 2001 novel by Erik Nylund of the same name. It will delve into the origins of the Spartan-II program, Master Chief, and Blue Team. Seeing as how much of Halo 5: Guardians’ story is set to revolve around Master Chief and Blue Team, an origin story makes sense.
Check out the trailer below and try to spot a young pre-Spartan-II program John:
In a post on Halo Waypoint, Halo franchise development director Frank O’Conner shed some light on how the animated series will differ from the novel and comic book series counterparts.
“Without getting into the weeds, we’ve been careful to align with the novel where it makes sense,” O’Conner said, “but in visualizing the universe – which has evolved so much in the intervening years – we were presented with a few challenges, but also a lot of opportunities. So you’ll see a few differences, choices of Covenant ship, weapons and so on, but it adheres tightly to the core canon, with a few flourishes here and there to fill in gaps or smooth over previous errors.”
Executive producer Kiki Wolfkill explained some of the challenges faced while trying to adapt a novel into a one-hour animated feature.
“If a picture is worth a thousand words,” Wolfkill said, “what is the right visual shorthand to deliver on the detail and description that words have the luxury of time to deliver? How do you fit a novel into just an hour? Often it meant strenuous – and sometimes combative conversation – between ourselves as well as with Sequence, [the studio making Halo: The Fall of Reach] to distill down to what the heart of the story is… what is most important to relay to ensure that the viewer not only understands plot but also feels connected to the characters and the story.”
Halo 5: Guardians will be released on October 27 in standard and limited editions. Halo : The Fall of Reach will come packed with the limited edition. It will be available separately a week later.
