The crew of the Normandy may be docking at Prime Video in the not too distant future! According to Deadline, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke announced that the company is nearing a deal with Electronic Arts to develop a television series based on the best-selling video game series Mass Effect.
Mass Effect is a science-fiction-based RPG created by BioWare. Within the game, players can play as Commander Shepard and lead their team through solving ancient mysteries and saving the galaxy from the threat of the Reapers, an ancient race of sentient machines bent on annihilating all life in the galaxy. The first Mass Effect game hit shelves in 2007, and since then the franchise has become one of the most popular video games on the market. The Mass Effect universe contains the original trilogy, which follows the same characters throughout each adventure, and a spin-off, Mass Effect: Andromeda which was released in 2017. BioWare also recently teased a new game in the series, after releasing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition earlier this year which combines the first three Mass Effect games, making the older games playable on newer systems.
It's not yet revealed whether Amazon's prospective Mass Effect series will follow the game's iconic characters like Commander Shepard, Liara T'Soni, and Garrus Vakarian, or whether the series will be an original story within the established universe.
Voice actors for the video game include Shohreh Aghdashloo, Yvonne Strahovski, Tricia Helfer, Martin Sheen, and Seth Green. Aghdashloo and Helfer have played iconic sci-fi characters on The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica and would do well in live-action versions of their Mass Effect characters if Amazon chooses to bring in some familiar faces.
The unnamed Mass Effect series won't be Amazon's first foray into video game adaptions. Last year, Amazon Studios announced a series based on the Bethesda apocalypse game series Fallout. Amazon's Fallout series is set to feature Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy as executive producers.
Amazon has also dabbled in sci-fi before, with The Expanse, a popular space opera, and the superhero comedy, The Boys. The popularity of Wheel Of Time bodes well for sci-fi fans with a subscription to the streaming platform as they gear up for the possibility of a Mass Effect series and the highly anticipated Lord of the Rings series in the near future.