Mass Effect movie is alive

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 7 July, 2011

Panel discussion set for Comic-Con.

The Mass Effect movie is alive and kicking, and will be discussed at this year's Comic-Con.

Later this month Mass Effect franchise executive producer at BioWare Casey Hudson and screenwriter Mark Protosevich will take part in a question and answer panel at the convention.

The Legendary Pictures press release mentions "screenwriter adapting the game to film". Will the Mass Effect movie be based on the first game in the trilogy?

Last we heard of the movie was in May last year, when news emerged that Legendary Pictures had picked up the Mass Effect rights.

Then we were told BioWare bosses Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk would work as executive producers on the film, along with Casey Hudson.

Protosevich wrote I Am Legend and Thor.

Legendary Pictures is behind 300, The Dark Night, The Hangover and Watchmen. The company will work with Warner Bros. to co-finance and distribute the Mass Effect movie.

Who should play Commander Shepard?

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Erinan #1 11 months ago

    "Who should play Commander Shepard?"

    If she can act, Jennifer Hale!

  • the_dudefather #2 11 months ago

    Starring Shia LeBouf as Commander Shepard

  • YGNUK-Munsen #3 11 months ago

    I don't like the fact that Protosevich is writing the movie - I thought I Am Legend and Thor were terrible in terms of story.

    Why can't they get the Bioware writers just do the script? they've not let us down so far

  • f1r3storm Verified Redakteur, Eurogamer Deutschland #4 11 months ago

    "Who should play Commander Shepard?"

    No one, as it hopefully won't be about Shepard. :)

  • azazel76 #5 11 months ago

    lou carpenter from neighbours

  • StolenGlory #6 11 months ago

    You all know it's going to be Sam Fucking Worthington anyway, so let's not kid ourselves.

  • frunk #7 11 months ago

    Hmmm - I would have naturally thought of a male Shepard... but "by jings" - you folks are right - I think a strong female lead in that role would work brilliantly.

  • Deckard1 #8 11 months ago

    In my head: Oh my god this could be most amazing Sci Fi movie ever made!


    Reality: Deep Space 9. Only shitter.
    Edited by Deckard1 at 07/07/11 @ 10:38

  • HyperTails #9 11 months ago

    @StolenGlory

    Didn't think of that. Sam Worthington's cool, and now that I think about it, he should be a good Shepard.

    Edit: I never could wrap my head around the Sam Worthington hate. Yeah, Terminator Salvation was a plot hole ridden piece of shite, but Christian Bale was in that and he is cool as Batman.

    Sam's in Avatar though! FFS, Avatar's epic.
    Edited by HyperTails at 07/07/11 @ 09:45

  • YenooR #10 11 months ago

    Keanu Reeves ;)

  • gribb #11 11 months ago

    @6. He used to live next door to me. TRUE STORY!

  • ZizouFC #12 11 months ago

    Will Smith

  • Tonne #13 11 months ago

    Jessica Alba as Sheppard, and gemma arterton as liara t'soni

  • Vagrant #14 11 months ago

    Is Shepard gonna be a fag from the start or will he realize it mid movie when he meets Wrex?
    Edited by Vagrant at 07/07/11 @ 09:52

  • metalangel #15 11 months ago

    Will EA representatives go around checking to ensure we're legitimate ticketholders, and make us sign an NDA preventing us from telling other people about certain "premium" scenes? Will they also shake a collection tin at us, allowing us to return to the theatre two months later for 20 minutes of crappy "deleted scenes" that now make no sense removed from their place in the continuity?

  • Jacksie66 #16 11 months ago

    Charlie Sheen....

  • JudasBlitzkrieg #17 11 months ago

    I reckon Andy Whitfield, Spartacus from the current TV serious would make a good Shepherd, providing he could sort out his dodgy accent

  • The-Bodybuilder #18 11 months ago

    "Who should play Commander Shepard?"

    Will Smith. The opportunity to see Shepard's reaction to Sovereign being a reaper with "AWWWW HEEEELLL NAW!".

    I'd buy that for a dollar. Even though cinema tickets are about x10 a dollar.

  • lolercopter #19 11 months ago

    Yvonne Strahovski. In those outfits. *massive smile*

  • The-Bodybuilder #20 11 months ago

    What's with the Sam Worthington dislike these days? Is it the cool thing to do now? :/

  • fushimi #21 11 months ago

    No one should play Shepard, because Shepard shouldn't be in the movie! The novels and comics stick to the rule of not featuring Shepard in person, and even avoiding referencing the Commander's gender so that players can consider the side stories part of their own canon, whether they play as male or female Shepard.

    The best thing would be to make an expanded universe movie that tells a side story in the "present" of the Mass Effect universe, perhaps with links to the game trilogy's storylines, or something set in the universe's history. An obvious choice would be the First Contact War. They could set up new characters, use ones from the novels and comics or whatever. Just no on-screen Shepard, please!

  • HyperTails #22 11 months ago

    @TheBodybuilder

    Its just cool to hate him? I thought that was why we all hate Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black.

    Avatar was cool though, unlike Friday and any Justin Bieber song.

  • jonbwfc #23 11 months ago

    It'll be one of the Wahlburgs. And will be a disappointment, if it ever actually gets made.

  • HyperTails #24 11 months ago

    @jonbwfc

    Donny Wahlberg is a fairly decent actor. He's good in Saw 2.

  • Razorus #25 11 months ago

    @fushimi
    You speak the truth! I was going to say the same thing. And I will.
    There should be no Commander Shepard in the movie and it should not be an adaptation of any of the games or even the books. An original story expanding or shedding light on some event. My money's on the First Contact War with the Turians and subsequent revelation of the Citadel Council races and humanity's introduction to them. Would make for cool battle scenes and a good story. They could have a montage showing the discovery of Prothean ruins on Mars too and make sneaky references to things we know in the games, such as Shepard. Or they could mention "an angry Krogan dude is kicking someone's ass" etc.

  • jonbwfc #26 11 months ago

    @JudasBlitzKrieg - Unfortunately Whitfield got struck by pretty serious cancer, which means he's effectively doing no work at the moment and may not for some time. They made 'Gods of the Arena' as a stopgap because they thought Whitfield might be over it and back soon enough but he's not going to be, so they've recast Spartacus for series 2. So, while I agree he would have made an excellent lead, he's not going to be :(.

  • Centrifugal #27 11 months ago

    Set it in the First Contact War, have Keith David play a young Anderson and the same actor voice a CGI young Saren.

  • twoism #28 11 months ago

    If Miranda's in it, Yvonne Strahovski should reprise her role, they modeled the character after her after all.

  • mushroomyakuza #29 11 months ago

    Matthew Fox!

  • wonder290 #30 11 months ago

    michael scofield as shepherd

  • geeza2020 #31 11 months ago

    Hulk Hogan

  • Lamargo #32 11 months ago

    "Who should play Commander Shepard?"
    Morgan Freeman.

  • Tonne #33 11 months ago

    @geeza2020 when fighting saren he will say get ready for a smackdown brother!
    en kills him with an atomic legdrop

  • TeeHee #34 11 months ago

    Still yet to see a good videogame to movie transition.

    Plot spoilers for those who don't want to know how the ME movie will probably turn about

    A family of street racing, acrobat treasure thieves run into trouble when looking for sovereign a mythical car built by *car company who offer us the most money*.

    Also it will be in 3D

    Ps.

    Female shep isn't Canon. deal with it.

  • Nithron #35 11 months ago

    I always think it's slightly missing the point when someone tries to convert a game to a movie when it's already so cinematic. Just... Play the game?

  • Lemming81 #36 11 months ago

    Sam Worthington would fit the character actually, as lets face it, Shepherd is a bit of a blank slate. It's the characters around him that make him interesting.

    In before brown-coats start shouting for Nathan Fillion though.

  • Freek #37 11 months ago

    Having a Q&A at comic con is a million miles away from being a greenlit production. And considering this is a Sci Fi film based on a video game that is going to to cost allot of money to make, it will never happen.

  • RexRunti #38 11 months ago

    @TeeHee I didn't realise there was a canon shepherd seeing as all the extended universe goes out of it's way to avoid making any specific referals about him/her.

  • TeeHee #39 11 months ago

    @39

    He's used in all the advertising and promotional material released in bioware and usually outside in mags, reviews etc.

    He's canon.

  • steviepunk #40 11 months ago

    @Tonne I take you have also decided on which supporting character should be the love interest then? ;) Can't argue with your choice.

  • mejoff #41 11 months ago

    Gina Torres would be my ideal movie Shepard.

    And JudasBlitzkrieg, much as he would do a good job, I think the cancer that has stopped him doing Spartacus season 2 would be just as much of an impediment here too, sadly.

    Oh, and TeeHee, Male Shepard isn't canon either. Marketing and trailers are not part of the narrative, therefore not canon.
    Edited by mejoff at 07/07/11 @ 15:37

  • HyperTails #42 11 months ago

    Hang on a minute? I am legend and Thor? I am legend was a shit film, and Thor was apparantly shit but I haven't seen it so I don't know, just going on what i've heard. And this guys the screenwriter?

    Bollocks.

  • Duallusion #43 11 months ago

    Protosevich (with retarded studio execs) raped a classic that is I Am Legend and should be punished for such a sin. That is all.

  • sabbede #44 11 months ago

    Me! I'll do it!
    I mean, I can't act and don't look the part.... But I could really use the paycheck.

  • captainrentboy #45 11 months ago

    As Shepard pretty much looks identical to Matthew Fox, get him onboard.
    He needs the work dammit!!

  • Neil__ #46 11 months ago

    @Deckard1
    Shitter than Deep Space 9, tey'll need the dubious talents of M Night Shyamalan to pull that off.

  • hypersp #47 11 months ago

    Why not a old Shepard?

    Liam Neeson *winks*

  • Corinthian7 #48 11 months ago

    I'm in two minds about how they should approach this. In principle I agree with those that say the film, should be set in the mass effect universe but avoid featuring Shephard so we can each keep our own in game continuity, on the other hand the game story perhaps offers the most dramatic possibilities. I say have a story running parallel to Shephards story with an another crew independently investigating/fighting the reaper menace. This way we could still incorporate many of the key events and characters from the game but if done right it could enhance the whole mass effect experience for the game. The one thing I hope they avoid in the movie is any scenes trying to replicate gameplay aspects. I want to watch a movie not a big screen video game,

  • Kaminari #49 11 months ago

    Jennifer Hale or, let's be insane - Michelle Forbes.

    Admiral Cain IS Commander Shepard.

  • Gumersindo #50 11 months ago

    "Hi, I'm Commander Shepard and I love this film" (somebody had to say it).

    My choice: Karl Urban as Commander Shepard.

    And of course: Seth Green as Joker and Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett

  • tyrant1 #51 11 months ago

    Id prefer no Shepard at all, but if it is Ill just be glad it wont be a woman Shepard.

    Their are too many cliche bullshit action women around these days. Its pathetic and unbelievable.

    Thankfully femshep is nowhere near popular enough to be sanely chosen as a lead in a film.

    Ultimately Id rather they use the universe and lore for something more creative and constructive. If they use Shepards story, it WILL suck full stop. It will show its about converting game sales into movie sales, and will be creatively void of anything decent.

  • jimr9999us #52 11 months ago

    I should.