Microsoft Explains Alien Director Ridley Scott's Contribution to Halo: Nightfall

Halo: Nightfall is, alongside Steven Spielberg's Halo TV project, one of two projects with a major Hollywood name attached to it. Ridley Scott, best known as the director of Alien, Blade Runner, and Prometheus, has his name all over Nightfall, but as an executive producer, it's unclear to outsiders what he actually does.

That's a subject Eurogamer raised with Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor, who was hesitant to go into detail, but did offer some sense of Scott's contribution. "He's there when we're building the story, he's there when we're breaking the script, he's there when we're picking locations, he helps with casting," he explained. "I don't want to get into this but he has strong opinions about things--most directors do."

Despite Scott being best known as a director, Nightfall is being directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who has directed episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and Falling Skies. And it's Mimica-Gezzan whose vision is being realized with Nightfall, according to O'Connor. "[B]ut Ridley carries a big stake and gets input on things," he said. "I'm not going to pretend [Scott's] footprints and fingerprints are all over it, but it's a small organization with a lot of collaborative creatives."

That small organization O'Connor is referring to is Scott Free Productions, Scott's production company that is responsible for Nightfall. And although he might not be hands-on with every aspect of the project, O'Connor was willing to share one specific thing Scott did, which was move the filming of a particular scene. O'Connor said this "completely changed one aspect of the story which I won't go into."

Nightfall is the episodic series that will debut later this year for those who purchase Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It stars Mike Colter as Agent Locke, the character we saw in the original teaser image for Halo 5: Guardians. You'll be able to unlock "meaningful" rewards in the Halo 5 beta by watching Nightfall, which will lead directly into Halo 5's story.

Image source: Wikimedia