My point was that in some regards they could be filled in with a selection of brand new Spartans and the narrative of Halo 5 might be entirely unchanged. That who blue team is is not central to the actual arc of the game. However, since they are established characters, nods and references can be there for those who know, and those who don't already know the histories won't necessarily be instantly unable to follow the narrative.

Halo 4 had a degree of that sensation to a lot of people, but I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't on purpose by 343i. It's a game about someone who has been on ice for 4 years getting thawed out in a new, alien environment. Things not making sense is a given in an arc like that. We'll just have to wait and see how they handle Blue Team, but I imagine that it will be with a lot of subtle nods instead of a barrage of history.