A Mass Effect series may be happening; what should the story be?
According to a report from Deadline, Amazon Studios is nearing a deal to develop a series based on the BioWare / EA video-game franchise. There has been success in this arena as of late with The Witcher (we know there’s other source material out there, but still) and then also HBO’s upcoming The Last of Us. Game adaptations don’t terrify TV and film studios as they once did! All of this feels to be in the early stages; there were rumors months ago that ironically, The Witcher star Henry Cavill was involved in something Mass Effect related, but there is no guarantee that this is a TV show. It could be a role in the next video game, which is actively in development.
So what could the story be for a Mass Effect show? The first thing worth noting here is this: It makes no sense for anyone to adapt the story of Shepard. If Mass Effect wants to be effective as an extended universe, the best thing for it to do is extend its branches outward. Do what Marvel is doing with the MCU as opposed to DC who just copies and spins themselves off with the same characters all over the place. The whole magic of the Shepard story comes via the power of choice; as many gamers know, the original trilogy was about creating your own character and using them to navigate around the galaxy, deciding on your friends/foes before choosing a very specific ending. It would be best for the show to avoid anything that canonizes a particular outcome to Shepard’s narrative.
Luckily, there are a number of other stories out there that we could see as worthwhile. Take, for example, the First Contact War, the initial discovery of the mass relays, or something that runs parallel to the game trilogy that has no bearing on Shepard’s story. Telling something in the Andromeda universe could work, but given the polarizing nature of the first game there, that could prove challenging. Whether it be small or high-stakes, any show should focus on the characters first: This is often what the original games did best.
Here is the last thing we question: Is this purely live-action? While we’d love to assume so, we have to remember that certain alien species like Elcor and Hanar probably would not be easy to produce in a TV medium. We could see Asari and Turians handle the transition a little bit better.
What do you want to see on a Mass Effect TV series?
Be sure to let us know in the comments! Once you do that, be sure to stick around for other updates. (Photo: Amazon.)