Halo 5: Alleged live action TV spot image depicts fallen Master Chief

An image alleged to be from a live action TV commercial for Halo 5: Guardians has caused rampant speculation online.

The picture was posted to Reddit by a user who claimed to have first seen it on social media, where it was quickly removed. The user says the person who originally posted the image was "associated with the production". The TV advert is currently filming ahead of the game's launch later this year.

In the image series protagonist Master Chief is seen lying beneath of a bullet-ridden monument in a ruinous landscape. Standing over him is someone believed to be the game's other playable character, Agent Locke. It could yet be proven a fake but it certainly does look legit.

In 2014, Locke was revealed to be a new protagonist for the series. Portrayed by actor Mike Colter, Locke first debuted in live action TV series Halo: Nightfall and clearly will be an important part of the Halo series moving forward.

In October 2014, it was revealed in GamesTM that Locke will be hunting down a rogue Master Chief in the new game - with gameplay split between the two characters.

Halo 5 will be 343 Industries' second independently developed Halo title following Halo 4 in 2012. They were also responsible for 2014's Master Chief Collection, which brought Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 to Microsoft's Xbox One.

The game was released in a disastrous state with multiplayer essentially rendered unplayable for quite some time. Efforts to fully fix the game are still ongoing.