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In the midst of rumors of Commander Shepard’s return in Mass Effect 5, original actor Mark Mir made a notable post.
Mass Effect 5 has been confirmed by BioWare, with a social media post from voice actor Mark Mir rekindling hope that Commander Shepard will return.
Fans assumed Shepard when the trailer was shown in 2020 starring Liara T’Soni. The flame of this theory was further fueled by a recent Mass Effect product listing in the BioWare store.
The ending of the original Mass Effect trilogy, while disappointing to many fans, was very varied. Depending on the various choices made in all three games, along with one final decision at the very end, the Reaper’s existential, synthetic threat can be combined with sentient life, destroyed, or taken under the control of sentient life, effectively becoming slaves. There has been a lot of discussion around these three final archetypes, and some players have even come to a controversial conclusion, taking to the internet to defend it. However, less has been said about the fate of Commander Shepard, who can only survive the finale under very specific circumstances. In the trailer for Mass Effect 5, Liara was shown finding a piece of N7 armor that many believed belonged to Shepard. This was backed up by the aforementioned merchandise list that mentioned Shepard, although the director of Mass Effect 5 stated that this was a mistake.
Despite this, many still hold out hope that Shepard will return in Mass Effect 5. Those hopes were heightened following the posting of Shepard’s voice actor, Mark Mir, on Instagram (via ComicBook). The description of the post is simply dedicated to the anniversary of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, but the picture itself is more meaningful; the image that accompanies the description is a piece of art that features both male and female versions of Shepard, with a text bubble that reads “We’re not really the type to ‘retire’.”
However, the timing of Meer’s post is certainly curious, as it closely follows BioWare’s much-discussed product listing and subsequent removal.
Because of this, Jennifer Hale, the voice of the female Shepard, has expressed interest in returning to Mass Effect 5. If both Hale and Mir remain passionate about their shared role, BioWare could potentially bring them back on board.