Another adaptation of a popular BioWare video game is in the works. This time it’s Amazon MGM Studios, and the franchise is the Mass Effect series, a game I confess I know little about other than that both N.K. Jemisin and Catherynne M. Valente have written novelizations set in the sci-fi world.
Sadly, neither Jemisin nor Valente will be penning the scripts for the television adaptation. According to Variety, that job has gone to Daniel Casey, whose previous credits include making Vin Diesel look too fast and too furious in F9: The Fast Saga. Yes, that’s the one where the gang goes to space (kind of), which I presume makes him well-equipped to bring the military sci-fi game to the small screen.
We don’t have any details on the plot yet, but the first three games in the franchise center on Commander Shepard, a soldier from the 22nd century who, after a fight to stop an army of sentient robots, battles an alien species called Reapers. The first three games came out in 2007, 2010 and 2012 respectively. In 2017, the franchise jumped forward in time with Mass Effect: Andromeda. Several spinoff games also exist, and a fifth main game is in the works.
In addition to Casey, the project is driven by executive producer, Karim Zreik, who used to work on the now-defunct Marvel Television group that oversaw all the Netflix shows, and Ari Arad, who has also produced adaptations like Borderlands, Uncharted, and Ghost in the Shell. Michael Gamble from EA, who now distributes the games, is also an executive producer. No news yet on casting or when the series will go into production.
While we wait for more info, perhaps we can play the games, or even read one of the novelizations by Jemisin or Valente.
