I’m cautiously optimistic about Amazon Prime Video’s Mass Effect series, especially after the streamer’s success with Fallout.
But I think the space-faring show will need to take a page out of the Amazon’s post-apocalyptic nuclear franchise starring Ella Purnell. Stay away from the actual game’s and their characters. Trying to re-tell Commander Shepard’s story is a recipe for disaster, so please, do not do it.
Everyone already has their own idea of who Shepard is and how they acted thanks to the game’s customizable main character, so replicating it is destined to piss somebody off either way. Look at The Last of Us and Ellie’s deviations from the game. They become two separate entities on top of everyone else’s own ideas, and it muddies things.
And then the show would also have the Herculean task of attempting to re-create some of the most beloved RPG characters of all time like Garrus Vakarian, Liara T’Soni, Mordin Solus, and the rest of the squadmates that players still talk about. No, there are a few other options that the TV show could tackle.
The first route the series could go is a safe one, similar to Amazon’s Fallout series: a story set within the universe and its recognizable locations and aspects (certain planets, alien races, etc.) to have as much freedom as possible. You can tell whatever story you want and not worry too much about canon and lore. They could take the Fallout route with this one, especially considering some of that show’s staff is working on the Mass Effect adaptation, too.
The next route would be to bring us back to a crucial point in the Mass Effect timeline: the First Contact War. This is when humanity first made contact with an outside race, the Turians. This is an important era in the franchise, but one that hasn’t been visited much yet, and is rife for expansion. It would be an excellent POV, bringing the humans into the overarching galaxy including the Citadel, the Citadel Council, and all of the amazing alien races that the series is known for.
The final option is another risky one, but one that I would be excited to see: adapt the books. Drew Karpyshyn’s book trilogy (Mass Effect: Revelation, Mass Effect: Ascension, and Mass Effect: Retribution) delve way deeper into a different period of time closer to the game’s storyline, focusing on Admiral Anderson, Saren, Kahlee Sanders, Kai Leng, and a gifted biotic prodigy named Gillian Grayson.
They’re absolutely fantastic works that focus on some characters we know while introducing others, and they focus on a time period very closely surrounding the games, so you could potentially give viewers some fan-service from a somewhat safe distance.
I want to see the latter as a huge fan of the books, but they do come a bit too close to the games themselves for me. I think that the best option is one of the first two. I think an original story is likely, but I’m curious, what do you want to see out of the Mass Effect TV show?
Let us know in the comments below, and also, cross your fingers for some Mass Effect 4 news this N7 Day.
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