Casting details for Amazon’s forthcoming Mass Effect TV series have leaked, with fans speculating on which characters from the games will be included.
As shared by entertainment insider Daniel Richtman, five casting calls have leaked. These are: a young Colin Farrell-type male (30-39) with open ethnicity; a female co-lead alien character requiring prosthetics (34-39); a female human providing a parallel narrative from Earth; a Doug Jones-type male villain (40-60); and a male wrestler-type soldier (30-49).
Amazon has provided no details on the show’s story, so it’s unclear if it will be based on BioWare’s original Mass Effect trilogy or if it will focus on entirely new characters in the same universe.
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Still, these vague character descriptions have provided enough for fans to speculate on. In particular, the female co-lead alien seems primed to be fan-favourite blue alien Liara T’Soni.
However, the Colin Farrell-type male could prove the most controversial. Fans have guessed this could be a male Commander Shepard, protagonist of the original trilogy – but this would assume MaleShep is canon over the female option.
Many fans prefer FemShep due to the performance of voice actor Jennifer Hale, so Amazon needs to tread carefully with the TV show if it’s following the games and intends to cement certain story decisions – Shepard’s gender especially.
The female human on Earth is an interesting prospect, considering the only similar character in the games would be Captain Anderson in Mass Effect 3. Some fans have suggested journalist Emily Wong could be an alternative, while one proposed FemShep could still exist in the same universe like the twins in Andromeda.
Saren from Mass Effect 1 would fit the bill for a Doug Jones-type villain (the actor is known for his non-human roles in The Shape of Water and Hellboy), while the male wrestler-type soldier certainly describes James Vega. But most importantly of all: in this scenario, who’s playing Garrus?!
Casting Calls for Amazon’s Mass Effect Series Have Reportedly Leaked
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Of course, this could all be entirely incorrect if Amazon chooses a story separate to the games, though you’d surely anticipate the team leaning on familiarity with the games at least for marketing purposes.
Back in July, it was revealed the Mass Effect series would be helmed by many of the team behind Amazon’s Fallout show. That’s proven particularly successful – and notably takes inspiration from the games without following them directly.
Amazon’s Mass Effect TV adaptation was officially announced in November last year. At the start of this year, Eurogamer spoke with Jennifer Hale who stated the game’s original cast should return for the TV series, even if just for cameos.
“I think they’d be really smart to pull as much of the original cast into the show in cameos and Easter eggs and recurring and regular [roles] as possible,” she said. “I think that would be an absolutely genius move.”