The Mass Effect video game trilogy is known for its expansive story and deep world, which are two aspects that make a natural fit for a TV series. And according to a new report, Electronic Arts and Amazon are nearing a deal to make that a reality.
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According to Deadline, the video game publisher and Amazon are close to closing a deal to “develop a series based on the best-selling sci-fi video game franchise.” The report did not contain any more information like casting or if it was adapting the games or telling a different story within the universe. Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke said that Amazon was continuing the invest in the fantasy genre, which puts this imminent deal in a clearer perspective as it is coming right off the heels of The Wheel of Time‘s historic debut on Amazon Prime and about a year before The Lord of the Rings‘ upcoming series.
Rumblings of a Mass Effect TV show have been bubbling up since February 2021 when the Witcher star posted a secretive picture on Instagram that possibly pointed to his involvement with BioWare’s space-faring RPG series. Users were able to utilize deblurring tools to look at the paper in foreground, which revealed a handful of Mass Effect terms like “Tali’Zorah,” “Cerberus,” and “Geth.” It seemed as though the text was ripped from the Mass Effect 3 Wikipedia page.
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A Mass Effect movie has also been thrown around since 2010 and was supposed to come from Legendary and Warner Bros. But after leadership and priority changes, its producers felt it was better to restart, according to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition‘s project director Mac Walters. He said in June 2021 after the Legendary Edition‘s launch that a film would be “fighting the IP” since it would be difficult to do the series justice in 90 to 120 minutes.
“If you’re going to tell a story that’s as fleshed out as Mass Effect, TV is the way to do it,” he said. “There’s a natural way it fits well with episodic content.”
The project was “never picked up again after that, [but] not for lack of trying.” However, it seems like Amazon has stepped in to pick it up and bring this series to its streaming service.
