A few months back, Legendary Pictures showed up at Comic-Con to start pushing some of their upcoming product, but included very little information regarding their adaptation of the popular video game franchise Mass Effect. Fortunately, GameFront has dug up a blog posted by Legendary last month (seemingly in secret) that gave us a few answers we were looking for as fans of the badass Commander Shepard and his crew.
First, we won’t be seeing the story from the video games portrayed on the big screen. Sure some of the characters will carry over, but the folks at Legendary have the go ahead to create a story from scratch, though they are working with the game’s producers at BioWare to keep certain aspects consistent. With about 120 hours of gameplay between the three games (the third being released in March) there’s plenty to draw from, but since they will be building their own story, hopefully they don’t shoot themselves in the foot for the many sequels this series could create.
Next, not surprisingly the film will focus on the male Commander Shepard, rather than the female version gamers can opt to use. This shouldn’t be big news, but it could have been an interesting choice to have a female lead in a hard sci-fi film like this. We’re not sure where the story will fit into the timeline of the games, but if it falls after the trilogy, then this could be an indicator that our beloved Shepard makes it through Mass Effect 3 unscathed.
Last but not least, Seth Green will not be reprising his role as Joker, one of the Normandy (their space craft) engineers. While his voice has become iconic in the series, Green himself doesn’t exactly look the part. However, this is Hollywood. If they really wanted him in there they could do it.
In a bit of unconfirmed news, a fan had asked if Daft Punk would be producing the soundtrack. Legendary said they love the electro duo, but it’s too early to say who will handle the music for the film. A film like Mass Effect would be a great film to stretch their legs with. Tron: Legacy gave Daft Punk a chance to make a video gamey soundtrack, but this sci-fi piece would open doors for their creativity that could create something even greater than their last efforts.
What’s nice about Legendary taking the time to answer these questions is that it means they’re working on the film and not tabling it to let people forget about it. It’s really early in the pre-production process, but that they’re working with BioWare and not just spinning their own yarn in the Mass Effect universe is a good sign. We should hear some more news fairly soon about where they’re going to take the franchise, and who will be on board.
