This is something that has just came into my mind, please fully read and understand the post. Please don’t come in here acting childish without saying anything that has some sort of merit.
Frankie said during E3 (which you would have had to see live to know about) That “no purple” will be in halo 4, frankie then said " you won’t need to play the new trilogy to get this one" so let me break that down.
The covenant used purple as a color pattern thus any time we saw purple we thought of the covenant, there are also people (most people) that call any of said raves about of it “covenant” instead of their actual names. Thus by him saying “no covenant” he was saying that has a whole without going off an naming each race that was part of it. And we also know by the end of halo 3 that the covenant is disbanded; so the only meaning frankie could have for that is the single races of such “covenant”.
He then said “you won’t need to understand the last trilogy to get this one” so even if the “no purple” were to be ignored (like some people are trying to) this line still stands. If any of the covenant races were to show up then that would be confusing for a new player and they wouldn’t get how that ties in to the story being told (neither would i). NOw if they were to show up as an easter egg or something that is a ok. But we have clear confirmations that the “current” story will not be carried over.
But i do have a spark for you “covenant” fans. The only races that could be in the trilogy without being a Drag are the lekgolo “hunters” and the engineers, why? The forerunners created the engineers thus it would be fine to see some, The legkolo were also around during the time of the forerunners but they saw them as just worms (which is all they were at that point). That being said those are the two “covenant” races people should be hoping are in.