Lately, Amazon has been on a tear making live action video game adaptations like Fallout and Like a Dragon: Yakuza. And the streamer isn’t showing any signs of stopping; today, there’s a new update on the long-gestating adaptation of BioWare’s popular sci-fi action RPG Mass Effect.
The news of Amazon’s Mass Effect TV show officially kicking into gear comes from a new report in Variety. According to the pub, Daniel Casey (F9: The Fast Saga) is slated to write and executive produce the show alongside Karim Zreik (Daredevil)Ari Adad (Ghost in the Shell)and EA’s long-time Mass Effect executive producer Michael Gamble.
The first time a Mass Effect TV show was known to be in development was back in 2021, though at the time there weren’t many details on Amazon MGM Studios’ progress on the show until now. As Variety notes, this isn’t the first time a live-action adaptation of Mass Effect has been attempted; a feature film pitched back in 2010 never saw the light of day.
Taking into consideration the batting average of Amazon video game adapted shows and the fact that Mass Effect‘s sprawling story is much too grand to be contained in a feature length film, there’s some hope that the show will stand on the winning side of video game adaptations not being a crapshoot.
Mass Effect first released in 2007 and has since then spawned one of BioWare’s most successful franchises alongside its fantasy series Dragon Age. It follows Commander Shepard, a space captain entrusted with saving the galaxy from the apocalyptic threat of an ancient species called the Reapers with the help of their oddball group of human and alien squad members. In order to overcome the looming threat, Shepard—who can either be played as a male or female character—must navigate a wealth of intergalactic politics and battles between humanity’s neighboring alien species. These alien species view the human race as naive babies at the table of space relations.
While little is known about what the show will entail, there’s hope from us Mass Effect heads at io9 that the show will opt to not follow Commander Shepard’s storyline from the games. Instead, we hope the show widens the game’s already dense universe by telling a tale beyond Commander Shepard’s reach. It also wouldn’t hurt if it made an elcor a central character to the show.
Since its release, Mass Effect received three sequels—the last of which, Mass Effect: Andromedawas more of a spin-off than a direct sequel. Alongside the new show being in development, developer BioWare is also working on a fourth mainline Mass Effect game, which Gamble has been promising on social media will be filled with all the intrigue, action, and tone that the series is known for.
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