Mass Effect chief Michael Gamble didn’t have much to say about the next game in the series in today’s N7 Day update, but he did throw some new light on the Mass Effect TV series being developed by Amazon.

“I haven’t talked about it much, but you might have heard a little something about a TV series?” Gamble wrote. "We’ve been partnering closely with Amazon on it, and we’re really excited with what the talented team over there is coming up with.

“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?”

A Variety report on N7 Day 2024 confirmed that the Mass Effect series had officially entered development: I’m not intimately familiar with the ins and outs of television production but a full year from that to “we’re figuring out how it fits with the games” seems like kind of a languid pace to me. And that’s fine—as with videogames, I’d rather wait for something good than have something right now that sucks—but it does suggest to me that it’s going to be a good while yet before we see a debut date announcement (or anything else).

Even though things don’t seem to be fully nailed down just yet, it is interesting that BioWare and Amazon are opting to move away from the story that underpins one of the most famous videogame trilogies of all time. BioWare previously tried that with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and yes, being an absolute Gong Show on the technical side certainly helped bring it low. But I’ve never shaken the feeling that Shepard and company are essential to its success. That seemed to be reflected in previous teases for the next Mass Effect game, which featured an asari who is almost certain Liara T’Soni, one of the central NPCs of the original trilogy.

One other fun thing about setting the TV series after the Mass Effect trilogy is that it will have to establish one of the endings as canon, and then we can all go back to arguing about that for another year or three. Oh boy!

Gamble also said in today’s N7 Day update that BioWare is still hard at work on a new game, but it’s not ready to share anything just yet. He also asked everyone to please stop yelling at him about it.

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