Amazon has updated its production plans for its upcoming Mass Effect TV series, which is now set to begin filming at the tail end of 2026.
Listed via entertainment data provider Production Weekly, the project is set for filming in Q4 2026, which means it might be a while off before fans can catch their first glimpse of their favourite N7 characters come to life on the small screen.
BioWare executive producer Mike Gamble, former Marvel Studios producer Ari Arad and Jessica Jones’ Karim Zreik will oversee the project’s production, with Star Trek Beyond’s Doug Jung on board as series showrunner and Fast & Furious 9’s Daniel Casey as its writer.
Based on the show’s early description, it seems to follow the plot of the original 2007 action RPG Mass Effect, with its initial synopsis reading as follows:
In Mass Effect, Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier, must stop a rogue Spectre agent, Saren, who has allied with a deadly race of synthetic-organic machines known as the Reapers. As Shepard uncovers a vast galactic conspiracy, they assemble a diverse team of aliens and humans aboard the starship Normandy. Together, they race against time to prevent Saren from unleashing the Reapers and wiping out all advanced civilisations.
With the description being identical to the narrative of the first game, the TV series looks to be a one-to-one adaptation of BioWare’s Mass Effect trilogy, which does raise the question of how it will translate the game’s choice-focused narrative into a linear show format. Mass Effect was well-known for its Paragon and Renegade systems, which allowed players to make decisions that affected the overall storyline, such as choosing to save Ashley or Kaiden near the end of the first game, or whether to spare or kill another squadmate, Wrex.
As the project is still in its early stages, its synopsis might simply be a placeholder for now, and the actual show might introduce an original take to circumvent these issues without forcing a canon set of events to follow. In any case, it’s still a long way to go before the Amazon series is anywhere close to completion, and who knows, we might even get Mass Effect 5 before the show is even out.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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