Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

"The Story of Halo 4 Begins at Dawn."

- Official tagline

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is an ongoing live-action miniseries set in the Halo universe. The series, the first episode of which was released on 5 October, 2012, is comprised of five roughly 15-minute episodes that are released on a weekly basis. The series' plot, occurring circa 2526, revolves around how John-117 inspired Thomas Lasky, a young cadet in the Corbulo Academy of Military Science to eventually become a leader on the. Along with a new character that will also appear in Halo 4, the series explores the beginning of the Human-Covenant War. It will be hosted on Halo Waypoint and Machinima.com. A 90-minute extended version will be included with the Halo 4 Limited Edition. The series was known as Sleeper during pre-production. The series will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 4, 2012.

A teaser trailer for the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima on July 2, 2012.

Production
"We wanted to do something unique from a narrative standpoint that's big in scale."

- Matt McCloskey - Director, Franchise Business Development

Filming is noted to have started as early as April 28th, 2012 at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a popular filming location for many notable science fiction series like Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica. Much, if not all of the series is set at the university, doubling as a futuristic UNSC officer academy, will introduce the main protagonist of Forward Unto Dawn. Propaganda murals depicting Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and fighter aircraft, statues of historic military commanders (including a depiction of Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo), and other signature futuristic artwork were seen decorated around the campus.

John-117 will play a pivotal role in the series, though he is not the main protagonist. That role is instead filled by Thomas Lasky, who will also be a major character in Halo 4. The Master Chief is portrayed by Canadian actor Daniel Cudmore, best known for his role as the mutant Colossus in the X-Men film series. Lasky is played by Australian actor Tom Green.

As Forward Unto Dawn is set thirty-one years before Halo 4, the production team originally experimented with de-aging Steve Downes' voice so he could voice the fifteen-year-old John-117; Cudmore would act only as the Spartan's physical embodiment. However, the team realized that Downes' altered voice sounded too high-pitched. Thus, Cudmore was given the role of voicing John, whose voice would evolve over three decades to possess the gruffer quality of Downes' performance.

Characters

 * April Orenski
 * Black
 * Cadmon Lasky
 * Chyler Silva
 * Christina Rice
 * Cortana
 * Dimah Tchakova
 * Frederic-104
 * Hughes
 * James McCann
 * Junjie Chen
 * John-117
 * Kelly-087
 * Mehaffey
 * Michael Sullivan
 * Shere
 * Thomas Lasky
 * Walter Vickers

Equipment and technology

 * Cryo chamber
 * Heads-up display
 * Holography
 * Holotank
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * Mark IV
 * Mark VI
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Zealot variant
 * Space elevator
 * Wind turbine

Weapons

 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword

Locations

 * Circinius system
 * Circinius IV
 * Corbulo Academy of Military Science

Species

 * Human
 * Sangheili

Organizations

 * Covenant Empire
 * United Nations Space Command
 * Hastati Squad
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * Naval Special Weapons
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * UNSC Navy
 * Naval Special Weapons
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence

Vehicles

 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle

Official Trailer
The official trailer of the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima Prime on July 12, 2012.

Enlist
A short, Enlist, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on August 24, 2012.

Cryo
A short, Cryo, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on August 31, 2012.

Flag
A short, Flag, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 7th, 2012.

Joyride
A short, Joyride, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 14th, 2012.

Lecture
A short, Lecture, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 21st, 2012.

Squad
A short, Squad, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 28th, 2012.

Trivia

 * Many of the murals seen on set are enlarged pieces taken from the concept art of Halo 3: ODST.
 * Frank O'Connor, franchise developer at 343 Industries makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 as a janitor at Corbulo Academy of Military Science, spectating the fight between Lasky and Vickers.