The Mass Effect video game franchise could be the latest to jump from consoles to the small screen. Amazon Studios is reportedly nearing the end of negotiations for an upcoming adaptation of the games.
Mass Effect is a space-based video game series that follows a systems alliance organization as they attempt to save the universe from the luminous threat of the ancient alien race called the Reapers. The main protagonist is Commander Shepard, who is a soldier that is created, modified, and controlled by the player through all three of the first canonical mainline Mass Effect video games in the original trilogy from Bioware.
While there has been speculation about a Mass Effect series or film for some time, news of Amazon Studios coming close to securing a deal to develop a live-action series comes from a recent report by Deadline. Further details were not provided, but the show is reportedly just one of the many genre projects Amazon Studios plans to develop for the future. Head of Amazon, Jennifer Salke, has said, “You will see us continuing to invest in fantasy genre of all kinds, we have a genre-focused team on the ground in Studios who work tirelessly with our creative partners on those slates, and you can look forward to more." Amazon has been making sure to take its streaming content very seriously in recent years. Its adaptation of Wheel of Time was one of the streaming platform's most successful launches and fans are looking for more.
The reason why a Mass Effect s how would be interesting is that Commander Shepard is a player-designed character, so that means one player's Shepard doesn't look, act, or fight the same way as another player's Shepard. It's meant to be the individual gamer who is in the shoes of Shepard, which is why it's hard for many to imagine how a Mass Effect TV series would capture this aspect from the video games. However, many fans suspect that the show will focus on nobody from the actual video game or maybe that it will take place prior to Commander Shepard's time in the story. There's plenty of stories that can be told throughout this immersive galaxy that don't necessarily involve the main protagonist of the video game trilogy.
Fans have been really enjoying these recent adaptations of popular video games. Netflix's The Witcher, Arcane, Without Remorse, and Castlevania have all been released on streaming platforms (some with confirmed sequels or upcoming seasons that will be released in the near future). Hopefully, if these Mass Effect rumors are true, then the door gets opened up for filmmakers and writers to get involved and deliver an adaptation that fans can appreciate.
Mass Effect is rumored to be in development.
Source: Deadline