In mid-September we shared a list of projects that will seek to adapt video game franchises into series and films, but we kept an eye out in case any other rumor became reality. One of those rumors mentioned Mass Effect: Yesterday was indeed 'N7 Day', and the folks at Variety exclusively announced that Amazon MGM Studios is developing a TV series 'inspired' by the intergalactic adventure of Shepard and his team. While there are no solid details about its plot, the names of its producers are already known.
'Arcane Effect', 'The Last of Us Effect', 'Fallout Effect', 'Finally Decent Video Game Adaptations Effect'... Regardless of the description we use, we add the 'Me Too Effect', with a very important number of universes that will try to make the jump to the screen.
Of course, successes are still the exception, and we've already seen some high-profile failures this year (Borderlands has been declared 'The Super Mario Bros. of this generation'), but if that hasn't stopped them before, it definitely won't now. What's next on the list? One of the most 'delicate' franchises, so to speak: Mass Effect.
Mass Effect on TV, courtesy of Amazon
The trained eye knows that yesterday was 'N7 Day', but BioWare has its mind occupied with the post-launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The news comes through the Variety portal, as an exclusive that was later confirmed by other sites: Amazon MGM Studios has officially begun development on a TV series based on Mass Effect.
The only names that have come to light so far are four: The first is Daniel Casey, known for 10 Cloverfield Lane... and for sending a car to space alongside Justin Lin in F9 (yes, that happened). Casey will handle the script and take on the role of executive producer. Then comes Avi Arad, with a much longer list of projects as a producer (from Blade in 1998 to Kraven this year), who is also involved in the live-action adaptation of Zelda. Karim Zreik joins as executive producer under his company Cedar Tree Productions (he worked on the Marvel series for Netflix), and finally, we have Michael Gamble from EA/BioWare as the fourth executive producer.
The first Mass Effect dates back to 2007, but the original trilogy was remastered in 2021 under the title 'Legendary Edition', and it's probably the most effective way to enter this universe today. The fourth installment, Andromeda, was a failure on multiple levels, and put the franchise into a long sleep. Although everything seems to indicate that there will be a fifth Mass Effect title in the future, it's not absurd to think that its details won't be available until the release of the series.
Sources: Variety, IGN
