Creative Assembly’s Halo Wars 2 was an integral spin-off for 343 Industries’ iconic sci-fi franchise. As we revealed earlier this month, the RTS spin-off was pitched to help fix the broken tone of the Halo universe before the release of Halo 5: Guardians, introducing The Banished and restoring the feel of the original trilogy.

While 343 Industries’ narrative team constructed some of the major beats, including the introduction of The Banished and Atriox, and even Atriox’s confrontation with Red Team, the team at Creative Assembly fleshed the game out into an epic story worthy of the Halo name.

Unfortunately, Creative Assembly released Halo Wars 2 and its DLC, and everything ended. While there was a pitch internally for a third game, which would’ve involved space combat to some degree, the game was never accepted, perhaps because the Spirit of Fire and its crew were seemingly lined up for future Halo Infinite DLC.

Speaking on the FRVR Podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more, Halo Wars 2 writer Dion Lay explained that the team at Creative Assembly really wanted to make a third game in the series, but it wasn’t to be.

“I wish we [did a third game] because, I remember, like the second one, the DLC, I think we really nailed it like that,” Lay explained. “I think that DLC [Awakening the Nightmare] we, as a team, really nailed it that time. We kind of really knew what we were doing. We made things so much tighter, I think the story is loads better, it’s just really cool.”

Halo Wars 2 development started directly after finishing Alien Isolation at the end of 2014 with Lay explaining that themselves and others thought they’d instantly be jumped onto a sequel for the horror game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and that exact same process occurred with their work on Xbox’s flagship franchise.

“I was pretty gutted we didn’t make another one as well,” Lay said, adding that, just like when the staff wanted to jump directly onto an Isolation sequel, the team were pumped to work on the next Halo Wars, but it wasn’t to be.

One of the major draws to continuing the series was just how efficient Creative Assembly had become at adapting to a franchise. Halo Wars 2 started at the very end of 2014, before the release of Halo 5, and released at the very start of 2017. Despite never working in the Halo franchise before, the spin-off was completed in just over two years.

“When we were told we were going to work on it [Halo Wars 2]. I thought we were going to work on Alien Isolation 2,” they told us. “Burt then, very quickly, I was like, ‘This is awesome!’… I was a bit older and a bit more experienced, and so I could hit the ground running a little bit. And I also knew how to work with a franchise because I’d just done one.”

With Halo Studios now focusing on multiple Halo projects, including a remake of Combat Evolved, we could end up seeing more spin-offs in the franchise again. As Creative Assembly works on Alien Isolation 2, maybe a Halo Wars 3 will spin up and make bring the journey full circle.