If I remember correctly, TSL was originally supposed to be 3 games, with 3 chapters each, for a total of 9 chapters. Due to the lack of a budget, (I believe) it was stated that Chapters 1 and 2 were the only parts which would be released, so Episodes 1-5 take up Chapters 1&2.
Two questions: Will any elements from Chapters 3 through 9 find their way into Episode 5?
And after TSL is finished, do you guys think you might release the full original nine chapter script for the fans to enjoy?
Obviously, I'm not speaking for the team here and some of this may have changed but these are the answers they've given in the past:
1) They've changed the way Episode 5 goes to bring closure to the story and bring up some things that were previously part of later chapters.
2) Though I'm not 100% sure of the legal jargon involved, I believe what it boils down to is Vivendi (Or Activision now?) owns the rights to TSL's content and is giving Phoenix a license to distribute it. The license only applies to Episodes 1-5 and so they don't have the ability to release the rest of the content.
I believe Episode 5 contains what was chapter 3 along with enough other material to wrap the story up. And no, there are no plans to release the script, as they may rework elements from them into future (non-KQ) games.
It doesn't come down to Activision. It's just that the original game design doc for TSL was out of scope absolutely and completely. But, we took elements from later chapters and reworked them into the five episodes. For example, Episode 3 has a lot of elements from what was originally Chapter 7, and Episode 2 has elements from Chapter 5. Episode 5 takes place where Chapter 3 was taking place and it draws elements from Chapters 8 and 9, and even ideas from Chapter 4.
We just simplified it in order to be able to do a full story and not leave people hanging.
Also, yes, we are planning to work on The Endless Forest and bring some characters from there into its own game. That was the full setting for Chapters 5 and part of 8.