Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

This article is about the web series. For the UNSC ship, see UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.

Template:Film Infobox

"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 Template:UNSCship. 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.

Episodes

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Appearances

A comparison of an unfinished shot of Corbulo Academy from the official trailer (above), and the finalized version, with digitally added elements such as wind turbines, satellite dishes and a space elevator (below).

Characters

• April Orenski (First appearance)
• Black (First appearance)
• Cadmon Lasky (First appearance)
• Chyler Silva (First appearance)
• Christina Rice Template:First mentioned
• Cortana
• Dimah Tchakova (First appearance)
• Frederic-104
• Hughes (First appearance)
• James McCann Template:First mentioned
• Junjie Chen (First appearance)
• John-117
• Kelly-087
• Mehaffey (First appearance)
• Michael Sullivan (First appearance)
• Shere (First appearance)
• Thomas Lasky (First appearance)
• Walter Vickers (First appearance)

Equipment and technology

• Cryo chamber
• Heads-up display
• MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
  • MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV
• Space elevator
• Wind turbine

Weapons

• MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
• M6H Personal Defense Weapon System

Locations

• Circinius system
  • Circinius IV
    • Corbulo Academy of Military Science (First appearance)

Organizations

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

Vehicles

• Charon-class light frigate
  • UNSC Forward Unto Dawn
• M12 Force Application Vehicle
  • M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
• UNSC Infinity

Trailers

Official Trailer

Main article: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn trailer

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

Enlist

Main article: Enlist

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

Cryo

Main article: Cryo

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

Flag

Main article: Flag

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

Joyride

Main article: Joyride

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

Lecture

Main article: Lecture

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

Squad

Main article: Squad

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

Gallery

• 

  The series' first teaser image.

• 

  Series logo

• 

  John-117 in MJOLNIR Mark IV armor.

Trivia

• Many of the murals seen on set are enlarged pieces taken from the concept art of Halo 3: ODST.
• Frank O'Connor appears in a cameo in Episode 2 as a spectator of the fight between Lasky and Vickers.