Halo’s long-running lore column has signed off. Canon Fodder, the Halo Waypoint feature that has covered the series’ story and canon for twelve years, published what its writers call its final issue, “Heart and Soell”, on October 5.
The issue was written before what franchise writer Alex Wakeford calls “last week’s news regarding the studio,” and was published with added “historian’s notes” in light of it. That news was Xbox’s restructuring, which brought layoffs to Halo Studios and moved development of the series to Activision. Wakeford also writes about his “remaining time at the studio.”
The most useful notes for fans cover Halo’s books, and most of the news is reassuring.
- Halo: Parasite’s Wake, Tim Lebbon’s novel set during Halo: Combat Evolved, is “indeed still coming” on October 20. Wakeford says it is finished and physical copies exist.
- Halo: The Master Chief Omnibus, collecting The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike with updated text, is “complete and still very much on the way” for November 10, alongside a full-cast dramatized audio version of The Fall of Reach.
- Halo: Fireteam Noble, Troy Denning’s next novel: “it is absolutely our intent to see this project cross the finish line,” Wakeford writes.
- Halo: Burn the Road Home, a new novella from senior franchise writer Kenneth Peters announced in this issue for next year: “we are determined to see this through to completion.”
Halo Studios also plans a run of Waypoint Chronicles short stories weekly through November and December, without audiobook versions, and hopes a Volume Two print anthology, ebook, and audiobook can follow later in 2027.
The issue closes with goodbyes from Wakeford and Jeff Easterling, who pitched Canon Fodder in 2014, and a set of never-before-seen artwork, including scenes of the battle for Zeta Halo, a new depiction of the Primordial, and the ruined UNSC Infinity. “With that, Canon Fodder has come to an end,” Wakeford writes, leaving the door open for future writers to pick it up. Eurogamer notes the book updates answer a question fans have been asking since the shake-up.
What Activision does with Halo’s story is still unclear. For background on the reports swirling around that question, see RCG’s look at reports that Activision may reboot Halo at Sledgehammer.
