Summary
News on the reportedMass EffectTV show has gone suspiciously quiet, but the adaptation would be a perfect way to replace Amazon’s canceled sci-fi hit. As an immensely popular video game franchise set within a cinematic fictional galaxy, adaptingMass Effectinto live-action seemed like a no-brainer. Hollywood agreed, and attempts were made to bring Shepard and co. into live-action, but theMass Effectmovie was ultimately canceledbefore entering serious development.
In 2021, reports claimed thatAmazon was exploring the prospect of aMass EffectTV show, but the lack of updates since is a very concerning sign.Mass Effectlooks increasingly destined to never get the live-action adaptation it’s so obviously ideal for, and that’s disappointing for anyone hoping to see the epic game series reimagined as an onscreen space opera. The news becomes doubly disappointing when considering how aMass EffectTV showwould have been Amazon’s perfect replacement forThe Expanse, which ended in early 2022.
How Many Books The Expanse TV Show Adapted (& How Many Are Left)
The Expanse TV show adapted the popular sci-fi series into 62 episodes across 6 seasons, but how many of the books did this cover?
The Expanse & Mass Effect Are Very Similar
There’s More Than A Passing Resemblance Here
The Expanseis set during a period of human colonization throughout the solar system, with Earthlings stretching across the Milky Way and beyond, bickering over resources and territorial dominance as they go. The story kicks into life when colonists encounter the Protomolecule - the technology of an ancient and advanced race that has since been wiped out. This discovery allowsThe Expanse’s various factions to explore new worlds, create synthetic soldiers, and manipulate living matter, and the Rocinante crew works tirelessly to keep that technology out of the wrong hands.
That is almost verbatim the core premise ofMass Effect, which released four years prior to James S.A. Corey’s firstThe Expansebook. The themes of system-wide political intrigue and colonization are at the heart of both stories, andMass Effect’s Prothean technology is virtually a like-for-like substitute forThe Expanse’s Protomolecule.The Expansetones downMass Effect’s reliance on alien species and other more fantastical elements, and the two stories take increasingly diverging paths with each installment, but the broad strokes are extremely similar.
Only two alien species feature inThe Expanse: the Protomolecule creators, who are extinct, and the Dark Gods, who never physically appear onscreen.
EvenMass Effect’s moral tightrope, where players choose between lighter and darker paths, bleeds intoThe Expanse’s narrative. James Holden and his crew are simultaneously saviors and renegades throughout any given season, and the introduction of Marco Inaros' Free Navy asks serious ethical questions, blurring the show’s definitions of “hero” and “villain.”
Mass Effect Could Fill Amazon’s The Expanse-Shaped Hole
The Expansefound a loyal core audience and was beloved by critics until the very end, but Amazon never properly replaced it. Apple TV+ has rapidly become the go-to streaming platform for sci-fi thanks to shows likeFoundation,Silo, andConstellation, but even those releases fail to scratch the militaristic, cerebral space-faring itch left behind afterThe Expanse’s endingin 2022. The Amazon series offered a true alternative to the twin juggernauts ofStar TrekandStar Wars, and nothing since has come close to replicating that.
The biggest stumbling block to aMass EffectTV show would likely be its budget.
Mass Effectfeels like the obvious solution. It’s an IP that Amazon has an established interest in, according to the reports from 2021, and it ticks all the same boxes asThe Expanse. Furthermore,The Expanse’s critical success serves as proof that a world as vast and epic asMass Effect’s can be brought into the live-action realm properly. Once upon a time, the so-called “video game adaptation curse” might have posed an obstacle, butafterThe Last of UsandFallout, the stigma around game-to-screen transitions isn’t as intimidating as it used to be.
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The biggest stumbling blocks to aMass EffectTV show would likely be its budget and the large-scale production required to do the video game justice.The Expansecertainly wouldn’t have looked as good as it did without some expense. If the financial aspect can be overcome, however,Mass Effectcould be Amazon’s perfect replacement forThe Expanse, while also filling a gap within the wider landscape of streaming sci-fi TV shows.
Mass Effect Wouldn’t Suffer From The Expanse’s Two Biggest Problems
Mass Effect Has Major Advantages That The Expanse Didn’t
Making aMass EffectTV show even more perfect as a replacement forThe Expanse, the video game adaptation would completely avoid the latter show’s two biggest problems. Firstly,Mass Effectis a far bigger, more widely known franchise, and a TV adaptation would benefit from a substantial audience boost thanks to the immense profile of the games. While James S.A. Corey’sThe Expansebooks are certainly popular, the TV adaptation had to draw interest without relying on the backing of a major preexisting IP.
Secondly,Mass Effectoffers a far more convenient ending thanThe Expanse, which remains unfinished even at the time of writing.The Expanseran for three seasons on SyFy, then another three on Amazon, leaving three books still to adapt.The Expanseseason 6’s endingconcluded the Free Navy conflict, providing some sense of resolution, but a litany of key storylines remain incomplete.
Mass Effect 3’s ending was not well-received, and would likely need altering in any live-action adaptation.
By contrast,Mass Effectcould conceivably wrap up within three seasons by simply adapting the first three games. A self-contained three-season arc is something that Amazon could realistically commit to - unlikeThe Expanse’s nine-book saga - and that defined end point would guarantee audiences a sense of closure and certainty from the very first episode.
