The wait is finally over: Amazon has put a live-action Mass Effect TV series into active development.
The exclusive came from Variety on, of course, N7 Day (November 7). The site also added that Daniel Casey (Fast & Furious 9, 10 Cloverfield Lane) is currently set to write and executive produce alongside Karim Zreik from Cedar Tree Productions and legendary producer Avi Arad (Spider-Man, Iron Man). Even BioWare’s Michael Gamble, who’s currently hard at work on the next Mass Effect game – one of our most anticipated upcoming space games – is also joining them as an executive producer.
A big-screen adaptation was once set at Legendary Pictures, but that project never came to fruition. Now, after some rumors and dubious reports back in 2021, Amazon and EA are moving full steam ahead on the Mass Effect TV show, potentially lining up the bigger franchise for a big comeback ahead of the long-anticipated fourth game entry (fifth if you count 2017’s ill-fated Mass Effect: Andromeda spin-off).
Mass Effect has been widely regarded as the most important and influential modern sci-fi video game series, so it’s strange that it’s taken so long to get a live-action adaptation finally going. In late 2020, fans got a new hope in the shape of a mysterious teaser trailer for ‘The Next Mass Effect.’ Shortly afterwards, 2021 gave us the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a remaster of the original trilogy. Now, with developer BioWare returning to Dragon Age after many ups and downs and settings its sights on Mass Effect next, the timing feels just right to start development on a show.
This would mark yet another blockbuster show based on a famous video game property for Amazon. The company’s film/TV branch has recently landed a huge win with the Fallout series – now prepping to shoot season 2 – and is actively working with Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica and For All Mankind)on bringing 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 Milky Way’s best efforts to stop the Reapers, colossal non-organic entities that cause galactic-level mass extinctions every 50,000 years for reasons unknown. The game involved space exploration, as well as squad-based, real-time combat and interactions with both human and alien characters across a variety of planets, starships, and space stations.
On top of its approach to modern RPG systems and decisions that could reshape entire narrative arcs, the Mass Effect series has been praised for its ambitious worldbuilding and daring dramatic swings. So, it’s sort of the perfect material for a massive TV adaptation, as long as it expands the universe and doesn’t retell a player-driven story. Who knows, maybe it’ll become your favorite TV show on the Citadel.