Contrary to popular rumors circulating the Internet, Halo’s favorite son won’t be hanging up his helmet as soon as was speculated. Agent Locke will be a primary character in Halo 5: Guardians, Master Chief remains the main protagonist, 343 Industries franchise development director Frank O’Connor confirmed on NeoGAF.
“‘A’ primary character, Chief is the main character and hero,” O’Connor wrote in response to theories that Chief wouldn’t be the main protagonist. He further sought to silence theories that the developer is going to “test the waters to see if they can retire Master Chief.”
Originally triggered by a recent X-One Magazine interview with actor Mike Colter, the rumors of Master Chief’s demise were spurred by the actor’s comments suggesting that his character of Agent Locke will be the main hero who finishes the proverbial fight in Halo 5: Guardians, and not Chief.
“Yeah, I’m a playable character in Halo 5. Once Halo: The Master Chief Collection is released, and then Halo 5 comes out shortly thereafter, you’re basically going to be playing a game with me as the primary character. I’ll have some cool weaponry, and some cool abilities, because by that time I’ll be a Spartan IV.”
Locke will be a prominent character in television adaptation series of Halo: Nightfall on Xbox One for Xbox Live. The Ridley Scott-produced Nightfall bridges the gap between Halo 4 and 5 and provides new details into Locke’s character and his own place in the Halo universe.
Nightfall will beg packaged with Halo: The Master Chief Collection when it launches Nov. 11th. Halo 5: Guardians, meanwhile, is scheduled for release in 2015 and, judging from Microsoft’s recent reports, only for Xbox One with no PC release planned.