Amazon taps Star Trek Beyond and Mindhunter writer to helm Mass Effect show

Amazon's Mass Effect adaptation just found its commander in Doug Jung, who will be the series showrunner and executive producer, as reported by Deadline.

You'll be familiar with Jung's work if you've seen Star Trek Beyond, Mindhunter, or Cinemax's Banshee series, where he was a writer. He was also a showrunner, executive producer, and writer on Apple TV+'s upcoming Chief of War series, which stars Jason Mamoa as a Hawaiian chief fighting to unite the warring islands against the rising threat of colonization.

Jung will have a similarly significant role in the Mass Effect show, so Chief of War could give us an idea of what to expect. It will be premiering on Apple TV+ on August 1.

Even if we only look at Jung's past work, there's reason to be optimistic about his impact on the Mass Effect show, especially considering his hand in crafting Star Trek Beyond, which earned a "Certified Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 80% from viewers. Netflix's Mindhunter has similarly glowing ratings, and was nominated for "Best Drama" by the Writers Guild of America in 2020.

Jung joins a handful of previously-announced production staff for the Mass Effect show, including screenwriter Dan Casey and producers Michael Gamble and Karim Zreik, along with Ari Arad and Emmy Yu of Arad Productions.

Fans of the Mass Effect games may already be familiar with Gamble, who was a producer and project manager on several BioWare titles, including Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

While Jung seems like a good choice for showrunner, some fans might be rightfully concerned about other members of the production team, particularly producer Ari Arad.

He has a rocky track record, especially with video game adaptations, having previously worked on the Uncharted and Borderlands movies. Both received lackluster reviews, especially Borderlands, which earned a dreary 10% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, Arad was also an executive producer on the 2008 Iron Man, so maybe there's a glimmer of hope that he can bring back that old magic with the Mass Effect show.

We're still a long way from any casting news, but the addition of Doug Jung to the production team is at least a signal that Amazon hasn't forgotten about its Mass Effect show, which has been in the works since 2021. With a showrunner on board now, hopefully production will pick up the pace. There's also the upcoming Mass Effect 5 to look forward to, although it's been facing its own troubling updates over recent months.