The Mass Effect franchise will be getting a television adaptation at some point, though what it will look like is anyone’s guess. News about a Mass Effect TV show has been sparse, but considering the rate at which major film and TV studios have been churning out video game adaptations, it seems fair to expect it sometime soon.
Mass Effect, more so than the overwhelming majority of games, has quite a bit of potential for an adaptation. The world that BioWare designed is overflowing with detail, with finely tuned lore that is just as compelling and sophisticated as even the most grand science-fiction epics like Hyperion and Star Trek. Nestled within this inventive worldbuilding are complex moral and ethical questions about war, subjugation, and artificial intelligence, making the franchise a proving ground for powerful and deep storytelling. At the same time, the games have enough action and high stakes to remain exciting and not overly cerebral. These are all elements that could be translated to a long-form storytelling format like television, but there’s one aspect of the games that simply can’t make the switch.
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A Mass Effect TV Show Would Have to Contend With the Series’ Choice-Based Story
Mass Effect is defined by player choice, quite literally. The events of each game’s story, as well as the franchise as a whole (at least when it comes to the original trilogy), are determined by what decisions the player makes in-game. For instance, saving the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect will result in her reintroduction in Mass Effect 3, and the various relationships between Shepard and their crew members will inform who survives at the end of Mass Effect 2.
There were choice-driven games before Mass Effect, and arguably many that incorporate their freedom of choice better, but this element is nevertheless an integral part of the Mass Effect experience; it’s a big reason why it’s not just another science-fiction shooter. The issue is, there’s no real way to implement this essential feature of the franchise in the medium of TV or film without essentially defeating the purpose. A Mass Effect show could very well offer stunning visuals, recreations of iconic alien races and locations, a great soundtrack, good dialog, et cetera, but it will never be able to recapture the sense of player agency.
How the Mass Effect TV Show Could Get Around the Player-Choice Problem
The Mass Effect Show Could Tell a Different Story
When conceptualizing a Mass Effect adaptation, the assumption is usually that it will follow the actual plot of the games, featuring key characters like Liara, Garrus, Saren, and, of course, Commander Shepard. But the world of Mass Effect is rich enough to conjure up different stories, so perhaps the show could be a prequel, maybe showing the Protheans’ first encounter with the Reapers or covering humanity’s first contact with alien races. This would also allow it to skirt around the issue of canonizing Shepard’s appearance and gender, which could be dicey.
Mass Effect’s Biggest Choices Could Be Ambiguous
This might be a little less satisfying, but the Mass Effect show could leave certain key narrative elements open-ended. For instance, the choice of whether to free the Geth or keep them enslaved could be mired in ambiguity, with the audience left uncertain as to whether they have actually been freed or not. This would allow the Mass Effect show to cover important plot beats from the games without being too definitive about the story.
Mass Effect
- Created by
- Casey Hudson
- Creation Year
- 2007
- Developer(s)
- BioWare , Edge of Reality , Demiurge Studios , Straight Right