Image: Electronic Arts
Mass Effect is officially getting an adaptation after over a decade of being in the works.
The long-gestating Mass Effect adaptation has finally found a home: Amazon Prime Video. On N7 Day, Variety reported that a Mass Effect TV series has officially entered development on Amazon’s streaming service, having secured a set of behind-the-scenes talent including several producers and a writer. Amazon was reported to be in negotiations to adapt the Mass Effect franchise all the way back in 2021, but it looks like the streamer is now forging onward with the project.
Amazon Prime Video is getting a Mass Effect TV adaptation
A Mass Effect adaptation has been in the works since as early as 2010, with plans for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures to put the game franchise on the big screen. However, the project was shelved due to concerns over the movie’s inability to squeeze an entire videogame into a 90 to 120-minute movie, as well as Legendary’s sudden pivot to television.
Later in 2021, it was reported that Amazon Prime Video had entered negotiations to adapt the Mass Effect franchise for a TV series. This week, those negotiations have been confirmed to be successful: Amazon will indeed make a Mass Effect TV series, with Daniel Casey (F9) set to write and executive produce the project. Additionally, Avi Arad (Morbius), Karim Zreik (The Defenders) and Electronic Arts’ Michael Gamble will also executive produce.
Plot details for the series are being kept under wraps for now, but it appears to be gaining traction at long last. Rumours are swirling that Henry Cavill is attached to the project, given that back in 2021, the actor took a picture of a script that contained words relating to Mass Effect (Reaper, Geth, Cerberus and Tali'Zorah). The script was ostensibly made up of paragraphs pulled from the Mass Effect Wikipedia page.
It is unlikely that Cavill was fully attached to this project all the way back in 2021 – but there is a possibility that he was approached for a role in either this series or BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect sequel. The actor is also going to be busy starring in another sci-fi game adaptation for Amazon: Warhammer 40,000.
Amazon Prime Video has several more game adaptations in the works, including a God of War TV series, an animated game anthology called Secret Level and a second season of Fallout. Amazon is also producing a movie adaptation of The Sims.
