It’s time to ask the question that we’ve all asked ourselves ever since Mass Effect 5 got announced: Will Commander Shepard return?
[Update, May 11]
Yesterday, the BioWare store "accidentally" listed a product description that implied Commander Shepard will indeed return in Mass Effect 5. As quickly as they posted it, they deleted it again. Still, the internet jumped on this and everyone was in a frenzy. The fan favorite commander would return... right?
Well, no. BioWare's project manager Michael Gamble quickly jumped on Twitter and explained that those responsible for this posting weren't familiar with Mass Effect and that the posting was simply a mistake.
But listen... if you work for BioWare and you don't know Mass Effect and its story, at least who Commander Shepard was, and what happened to them... something's got to be wrong here, right? Maybe Gamble is just trying to put out the fire, but then again... has the fire ever been out when it came down to whether or not Shepard would return?
The original thing was written by the people who run the store and aren't familiar with the game :)
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) May 10, 2022
[Original Article]
Whether it’s 2012 or 2021, your Shepard died, right? You didn’t know that your favorite space soldier could survive if you grinded hard enough, and so you either had him merge with the reapers or killed them and then died yourself. And that is where a huge problem comes when asking the question of whether or not Commander Shepard might return for the next Mass Effect: can he really, when he’s canonically dead in some cases?
Let me give you an example that I like to compare this to: Dragon Age: Inquisition couldn’t feature the Hero of Fereldan because some Heroes had died in Origins. It was therefor too hard to make them an important part of Inquisition, and so only Hawke was included.
The Hero of Fereldan wouldn’t have been the main character for Inquisition, and yet they still couldn’t include them. You know what I’m getting at… right?
Is Shepard In Mass Effect 5?
If Shepard is in Mass Effect 5, then only as a side character, not as the main character. BioWare can’t force people to ignore their Shepard’s death in Mass Effect 3 that truly happened… not just as a headcanon, but it happened on screen. I therefor think that if Mass Effect 5 features Commander Shepard, it will either be as a side character like Hawke was in Inquisition or an easter egg.
Gamesradar recently did an interview with Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer for N7 day, the voice actors for female and male Shepard in Mass Effect 1-3 and both of them would be more than up for returning in the next Mass Effect, however, neither of them seem to have been contacted yet and if production really is underway like BioWare says, then we doubt that they’d know “nothing” if they were playing the main protagonist… though they could also just not be able to say anything.
Doubt it, though.
I think it’s best if you kept your hopes low that you’ll be playing Shepard in Mass Effect 5, but there is a chance that they’ll return in some form, even if it’s just as an easter egg. Since Liara is returning in Mass Effect 5, I’d say it’s likely that the game plays after Shepard’s death, especially with her picking up the N7 badge. It’s therefor very likely that we’ll hear stories about the fallen hero Shepard, maybe even get flashback scenes.
But once again, I really doubt that Commander Shepard will be the main protagonist of Mass Effect 5. Sorry, guys.