Mass Effect Live-Action Shepard Casting Divides Gamers

We may finally have our first proper insight into some of the casting decisions in the upcoming live-action Mass Effect TV series, and it’s pretty clear that a good chunk of you aren’t going to be happy with their choice for Commander Shepard.

With Fallout season two set to drop at the end of December and production already ramping up on a God of War series, it would seem that Amazon is going all in on live-action video game adaptations at the moment.

Case in point, their long-rumoured Mass Effect TV series was finally confirmed back in November 2024, hot off the heels of Fallout’s success.

Now, according to one source, it seems that Amazon has finally made a decision regarding Commander Shepard’s casting… and BioWare fans are already divided on the direction they’re taking.

As detailed in an article by Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, insider Daniel Richtman has revealed that Amazon is on the hunt for five different actors, including: “a young Colin Farrell-type male (30-39) with open ethnicity” and “a female co-lead alien character requiring prosthetics (34-39)”.

Pour one out for FemShep believers, because that “Colin Farrell-type male” is almost definitely referring to Commander Shepard.

Naturally, fans over on the r/masseffect subreddit have very mixed feelings about the leak.

“As a Femshep fan :(“, commented user Upstairs-Yard-2139.

“Also I’m more worried about a lack of aliens and biotics, both require special effects and both will be expensive… Honestly I don’t think it’ll get past the 1’st game. Then again 1 season per game wouldn’t be too bad.”

“Mass Effect means so much to so many people, it would be nearly impossible to accommodate everyone's Shepard”, replied user GrayWardenParagon.

“So TV will pick what they think is the "neutral" / "default" option (i.e. a straight white male Shepard) played by [insert famous actor here] just to be on the safe side. Not saying this is right; I actually think this is boring and formulaic, but at this point television can't imagine anything different.”

Well don’t get too ahead of yourselves folks, because there is still hope.

Richtman’s leaked casting information also included one very interesting tidbit: Amazon is reportedly hunting for someone to play “a female human providing a parallel narrative from Earth”.

Hear me out: what if there’s a chance we could get two Shepards?

There’s really no reason that we couldn’t have a character that is supposed to serve as a stand-in for FemShep, that can share the spotlight with the actual Shepard. Just give them a different last name, and fans can have their cake and eat it, too.

That being said, there’s only one casting decision I personally care about, and that’s Garrus.

He’s essentially just Space Batman, and he’s the coolest character in the entire franchise. I will die on this hill.