The wait is finally over: Amazon has put a live-action Mass Effect TV series in active development.
The exclusive, of course, came from Variety on N7 Day (November 7). The site also added that Daniel Casey (Fast & Furious 9, 10 Cloverfield Lane) will currently write and executive produce alongside Karim Zreik of Cedar Tree Productions and legendary producer Avi Arad (Spider-Man, Iron Man). Even BioWare’s Michael Gamble, who is currently hard at work on the next Mass Effect game – one of our most anticipated upcoming space games – is also joining them as executive producer.
A big-screen adaptation was once slated to be released at Legendary Pictures, but that project never came to fruition. Now, after some rumors and questionable reports in 2021, Amazon and EA are going full steam ahead with the Mass Effect TV show, potentially lining up the larger franchise for a big comeback ahead of the highly anticipated fourth game entry ( fifth if you count 2017’s ill-fated spin-off of Mass Effect: Andromeda).
Mass Effect is widely regarded as the most important and influential modern sci-fi video game series, so it’s strange that it’s taken so long for a live-action adaptation to finally get underway. In late 2020, fans got new hope in the form of a mysterious teaser trailer for ‘The Next Mass Effect’. Shortly after, 2021 gave us the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a remaster of the original trilogy. With developer BioWare returning to Dragon Age after many ups and downs and setting its sights on Mass Effect, the timing feels just right to begin developing a show.
This would mark another blockbuster show based on a famous video game property for Amazon. The company’s film/TV arm recently scored a huge win with the Fallout series – now gearing up for season 2 filming – and is actively working with Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica and For All Mankind) to bring PlayStation’s God of War to the small. screen too.
The original video game trilogy followed Commander Shepard, an elite soldier of the Systems Alliance. Shepard led the Galaxy’s efforts to stop the Reapers, colossal non-organic entities that cause galactic-level mass extinctions every 50,000 years for unknown reasons. The game featured space exploration, as well as squad-based, real-time combat and interactions with both human and alien characters on a variety of planets, starships and space stations.
In addition to its approach to modern RPG systems and decisions that could reshape entire storylines, the Mass Effect series has been praised for its ambitious world-building and bold dramatic swings. So it’s more or less perfect material for a large-scale TV adaptation, as long as it expands the universe and doesn’t retell a player-driven story. Who knows, it might become your favorite TV show on the Citadel.