Mass Effect to be adapted as a TV show by Amazon MGM

The action sci-fi world of Mass Effect is next on the docket to join the transmedia world of video game-to-television adaptations. According to a report from Variety, Amazon MGM is moving forward with a TV show based on the 2007 – 2021 game series.

The show will be penned by the writer of F9: The Fast Saga, Daniel Saga, which did not fare particularly well critically but made over $700 million at the box office. Mass Effect developer BioWare’s studio head Mike Gamble, who worked on two of the four mainline Mass Effect titles, will also be serving as an executive producer on the TV show alongside Hollywood’s ubiquitous executive producer Avi Arad.

Though the reporting does not indicate what a Mass Effect adaptation will be based on, it’s easy to assume that it will focus on the more popular original Mass Effect trilogy. Those three games told the stories of Commander Shepard uncovering the threat of the extraterrestrial reapers from deep space. The 2017 Mass Effect Andromeda was a critical and sales disappointment for publisher Electronic Arts, so it is unlikely to be consider creatively ripe for an adaptation.

This news comes on November 7th, which BioWare has enshrined as the yearly N7 Day, making reference to Commander Shepard’s N7 armor in the video games. While the announcement has not officially come from EA or Amazon, it does give fans something to celebrate this N7 Day.

It is likely this adaptation deal is a direct result of Fallout‘s success, which is one of Amazon Prime’s biggest streaming successes in recent years. That adaptation, which intimately involved Bethesda Game Studios producer Todd Howard in its creation and execution, has been a big boost for the series. Mass Effect, with its space soap opera leanings and unique world, seems likely to be a logical successor to Fallout‘s 17 emmy nominations.