: I agree in theory that you don't need the Forerunners for a good Halo movie,
: but I also think they had a pretty straightforward path to making a good
: series of movies based on the original trilogy and it just never
: materialized.

: Ascendant Justice had a great piece on the Halo film from years ago, and
: while I take issue with parts of it (I think their spec script
: overcompensates way too much in places to try and bridge 1 and 2, and I
: actually think Garland's script did a pretty good job capturing the
: "core" of the game) I think they outlined that the Bungie Halo
: games have a really useful strength for adaptions—they are very
: streamlined stories.

True. I think the Bungie Halo games would be very easy to adapt, and I think they'd make great movies. I'm just worried about what happens afterward. I'm worried that Hollywood would learn the wrong lessons and think that only adaptations of the games will do well, or only movies about the Master Chief are viable.

Back in 2007, an adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved would have been kick-ass.

: I'm not sure if you've been following the EU recently, because your idea of
: the Covenant setting a lure to kill Spartans is actually something Troy
: Denning has touched on in his novels Silent Storm and Oblivion.

Yeah. I've been thinking about a similar plotline for a long time, and it was touched upon all the way back in Evolutions, in the short story Headhunters. It was awesome to see Denning touch upon it, even if it was only tangential. I mean, the UNSC thought that the Covenant were laying a trap for Spartans in Oblivion, but Nizat certainly wasn't expecting Spartans to show up!

I think this plotline is a natural outgrowth of the elements already present in Halo. Elites are the movers and shakers in the Covenant military. They love war, they love combat, and they're always looking for a worthy opponent. Spartans are the deadliest sons of bitches ever to step onto the battlefield, so much that the Covenant have named them Demons. It only makes sense that the Covenant would launch dedicated missions to draw Spartans into battle.