Why Mike Colter Didn’t Return For Halo 5: Guardians

While Halo 5: Guardians used his likeness, here’s why actor Mike Colter didn’t return for the video game sequel. The impact the original Halo had on the first-person shooter genre can’t be underestimated. The game was released in 2001 and pioneered design choices like regenerating health, using the shoulder button for grenades and only being able to carry two weapons at a time. It also featured fantastic multiplayer, a rich mythology and cool new hero in the mysterious Master Chief.

The franchise’s status was cemented with 2004’s uber-successful Halo 2, which opened up the universe even further. Outside of the games, the series has received spinoff novels and live-action TV shows in the form of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and anime anthology Halo Legends. There were famously plans for a Peter Jackson produced Halo movie which would have been Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9) directorial debut, but following various pre-production issues, the project was shelved.

Developers 343 Industries inherited the Halo brand after original developers Bungie departed, though their stewardship of the series has been met with mixed reactions. Titles like Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians were considered inferior to the original trilogy, with the latter being particularly criticized for sidelining Master Chief for much of the story. In his place was Spartan Jameson Locke, a character who first appeared in live-action series Halo: Nightfall played by Mike Colter.

Spartan Locke was billed as a new hero for the Halo series, though some found the character generic and lacking in personality, especially when compared to the Chief. After appearing in Halo: Nightfall, Colter returned to voice Locke in Halo 2: Anniversary, a remastered version of the 2004 sequel. With Locke upgraded to a main character for Halo 5: Guardians, it was fully expected that Colter would reprise the character, but while Spartan Locke still bears the actor’s face in the game, he’s voiced by Ike Amadi (Mortal Kombat 11).

The reason for Mike Colter’s Halo 5: Guardians exit comes from scoring the title role in Netflix’s Luke Cage, which was confirmed in December 2014. Since his Luke Cage/Jessica Jones schedule didn’t line up with the game anymore, 343 Industries allowed him to depart the project and brought on Ike Amadi, who was one of their original choices for the role. While it may have been odd for a different voice to be coming out of Colter’s mouth, there was no drama involved with his exit. Since players didn’t quite take to Spartan Locke, Master Chief will be front and center again in Halo Infinite, though it’s unknown if Locke himself will make any kind of return – and who he’ll be voiced by if he does.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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