Mass Effect Is Leaving Shepard Behind, Shiny New Era Announced

The original Mass Effect trilogy is one of those gaming stories that everyone should play through at least once. Following the fate of Commander Shepard and his crew as they attempt to stop the galaxy ending threat in the Reapers is an emotional and meaningful narrative thread that still serves as a seminal experience all these years later.

As such, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that would be the story that Amazon would want to bring to the small screen in their upcoming television adaptation of the beloved franchise.

Interestingly, it seems that is quite far from the truth, as the team working on the show has decided to place their story elsewhere in the Mass Effect timeline.

As first reported by IGN, Bioware shared a ton of Mass Effect news as part of its annual N7 day celebrations.

Bioware

Part of that was a statement from franchise boss Mike Gamble, who shared the following statement on the upcoming show.

"We’ve been partnering closely with Amazon on [the series], and we’re really excited with what the talented team over there is coming up with," he said.

"The writers room is going strong, and we’ve got a lot figured out about how it fits within the Mass Effect canon, and where it sits in respect to the new game.

"The show will explore a brand-new story within the universe’s timeline, and will be set after the original trilogy. It won’t be a retread of Commander Shepard’s story – because after all … that’s YOUR story, isn’t it?"

In all fairness to Mr Gamble, he makes a good point. There are plenty of different ways the story might have turned out depending on your choices and ability to save your crewmates by earning their loyalty. Equally, any number of main characters may have died along the way in your save. Having a somewhat clean slate may avoid the potentially jarring situation where the show clashes with your experience of Mass Effect.

That doesn't mean that we won't get to see some familiar faces though, and it would be slightly foolish if Amazon failed to capitalise on the more well-liked and established characters in the franchise. I think we can all agree that Aria T'Loak needs to return in a nefarious crime boss type of way.

Please Amazon, if you are going to give me one thing in this show, give me that.