Henry Cavill Teases 'Secret' Mass Effect Project
Henry Cavill has already proved he has the acting chops to tackle the expanding world of live-action video game adaptations, but is he preparing to put his Midas touch on Mass Effect? Aside from playing Superman in the DC Extended Universe, Cavill has helped become a household name thanks to his role as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher.
Netflix's gritty adaption of CD Projekt Red's fantasy series was one of the streaming service's biggest hits and has undoubtedly helped the upcoming live-action reimagining of Capcom's Resident Evil.
BioWare's Mass Effect games are juggernauts in the sci-fi world and have rightly led to questions about when (not if) they'll get a live-action outing. There's plenty of hype surrounding the franchise thanks to the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition as a compilation of all three games in 2021. However, if the latest cryptic tease from Cavill is to be believed, this year could be even bigger for the shooter series.
What has Henry Cavill said about Mass Effect?
Posting on Instagram, Cavill shared a shot of himself in the makeup chair for The Witcher. The post included some blurred pieces of paper and the caption, "Secret project? Or just a handful of paper with random words on it.... Guess you'll have to wait and see. Happy hump day all". Those sneaky sleuths at Gamepressure managed to unblur the swords, which led to a rather surprising discovery.
Gamepressure used the tool known as Focus Magic and unscrambled the shot. There are references to "Cerberus", "Reaper", "Geth" and "Tali'Zorah". By the looks of it, Cavill is reading something related to Mass Effect, and in particular, what could be a Wikipedia entry for Mass Effect 3. An excerpt from the 2012 game's page reads: "Following the events on Tuchanka and a failed coup by Cerberus to take over the Citadel, the quarians offer their support to the Alliance if Shepard helps them reclaim their homeworld, Rannoch, from the get.
"Assisted by a quarian, either Tali'Zorah or Admiral Daro'Xen, Shepard boards a geth dreadnought and rescues a captive geth unit, either Legion or a facsimile occupied by a geth virtual intelligence (VI), then disables the Reaper control signal over the get".
Take the below with a serious pinch of salt, but if there's more to it, Cavill could be circling a role in some sort of live-action Mass Effect. The fact Cavill went overboard in teasing the project, while also knowing someone would probably find a way to figure it out, also suggests it's more than him just auditioning for a part. The obvious suggestion is that he could be playing Commander Shepard.
What is the Henry Cavill secret Mass Effect project?
For now, the Man of Steel isn't willing to give anything away. Following the wrapping of the original trilogy and Commander Shepard's story, Mass Effect has continued with the fourth game in 2017 (titled Mass Effect: Andromeda) and news of an untitled fifth game. It's possible Cavill is brushing up on his Mass Effect for a voice role in the fifth game, but to be honest, we hope it's for the long-rumoured live-action movie.
Of course, the potential casting of Cavill would raise questions about how a Mass Effect series or movie would work. Although the idea of playing as a female version of Shepard (known as FemShep) was originally unpopular - only 18% played as her in Mass Effect 2 - the popularity of the female lead continued to grow. When it comes to Legendary Edition, FemShep is one of the remaster's biggest pulls. It just wouldn't be Mass Effect without BroShep and FemShep, which could be a stumbling block with a live-action version. Maybe we could see a pair of twins or FemShep being a female clone of BroShep?
There is sure to be plenty of wild speculation until Cavill himself reveals whether there was more to his post. Either way, consider us suitably stoked if he's about to do anything related to Mass Effect. You can only imagine the "mass effect" of having someone like Cavill in the starring role.
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