“Mass Effect,” “Robocop” & More TV Updates

Over six months ago, Netflix’s longtime head of North American scripted series Peter Friedlander was named head of global television at Amazon – replacing Jennifer Salke who was appointed to the position in 2018.

Salke had a mixed track record under her run – generating two major hits “Reacher” and “Fallout” along with some some smaller successes like “The Wheel of Time,” “The Terminal List,” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty”. There was also a number of high-profile misfires like the costly “Rings of Power” and “Citadel”.

A new report at The Ankler has gone into Friedlander’s early run in the job and confirmed that a series reboot of MGM’s “Robocop,” first hinted at back in 2023, has been greenlit. Also getting the greenlight is Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani’s planned series adaptation of “Sex Criminals”.

The biggest news of the piece ties to the planned TV series adaptation of the “Mass Effect” video game franchise. Friedlander has reportedly requested rewrites to make the series “more appealing to non-gamers,” with the series said to be “on the verge” of a green light. The show is described as a “pricey genre drama”.

The last update on the series indicates the show would focus on an original story within that universe rather than rehashing BioWare’s classic trilogy of video games about Commander Shepard and the Reapers.

“Fast & Furious 9” scribe Daniel Casey is attached as writer, while “Mindhunter” writer Doug Jung is set to serve as showrunner. Karim Zreik (“Jessica Jones”), Mike Gamble and Ari Arad are executive producing.