Mass Effect 4 remains shrouded in mystery, even following BioWare's return to the gaming scene with Dragon Age: The Veilguard last year. But the game is still well on its way, BioWare assures, so the lack of concrete or even cursory information about it since the Mass Effect 4 teaser trailer back in 2020 may be a result of simply revealing the project too early.
Sadly, that teaser and its subsequent promotional materials have done little to illuminate the plot or gameplay elements of Mass Effect 4, so all audiences have to subsist on is speculation. Details like the N7 armor and inclusion of Liara indicate that the game will be a direct continuation of the Shepard saga, unlike something like Mass Effect Andromeda, which is more of a spin-off. But there are other aspects of the promotional materials, specifically the Angara character model shown in the Mudskipper concept art, that suggest Mass Effect 4 will take place after the events of Andromeda. With this in mind, the return of some legacy characters is more likely than others.
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Mass Effect 4: Who Is Most Likely To Return?
The Life Expectancy of Mass Effect's Many Alien Races
The following speculation is under the assumption that Mass Effect 4 canonizes the "best" ME3 ending, leaving as many characters alive as possible.
Mass Effect's world involves a number of different alien species with greatly varying lifespans. Some races, like the Turians and Quarians, have a similar life expectancy as humans: around a century. Meanwhile, Vorchas and Salarians live several decades less on average, making the return of characters like Mordin Solus relatively unlikely, even if BioWare makes their survival canon. Some of Mass Effect's longest-living species include:
- Asari: Over 1,000 years
- Krogan: Several centuries
- Geth: indefinite due to their synthetic nature
Liara is more or less confirmed to return due to her appearance in the reveal trailer, but she's only in her early 100s by the end of Mass Effect 3—a juvenile by Asari standards. So, ME4 could theoretically take place several hundred years after ME3, as Liara still has the better part of a millenium ahead of her. Older Asari characters, like Samara and Aria, will likely have expired ahead of ME4, assuming that it is indeed set hundreds of years in the future.
As previously mentioned, the suggestion of an Angara character in ME4 hints that it will take place after the events of Andromeda, which is set roughly six centuries after Mass Effect 3. Working under this assumption, it can be estimated that Liara will be at least 700 years old by the time that Mass Effect 4 begins. Krogans rarely die of natural causes due to their mercenary culture, but it's strongly suggested that they can live at least as long as Asari, if not longer. With Wrex and Wreav both being around 1,000-1,500 in Mass Effect 3, it's very likely that they could return, being somewhere in their mid-1,000s. Grunt could also return, as he is often referred to as a "baby" by other Krogan, though his unconventional genetic makeup makes his lifespan harder to predict. Finally, Legion could return, as he is a Geth and effectively immortal. To summarize, the characters most likely to return in Mass Effect 4, assuming it is set many centuries in the future, are:
- Liara T'Soni
- Urdnot Wrex
- Urdnot Wreav
- Legion
Shepard quite literally dies and comes back to life in Mass Effect 2, and Javik survives in cyrosleep for over 50,000 years, so there's plenty of precedent for Mass Effect characters living beyond the constraints of their biological clocks. Human characters like Miranda live longer than average due to genetic modification, which could be another justification for certain characters returning. All of this is to say that any speculation about Mass Effect 4's cast should be taken with a grain of salt.
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