BioWare may be working on new endings for Mass Effect 3 after outraged fans flooded the Web with complaints about the sci-fi series’ conclusion, but it’s unclear whether those new endings will involve Commander Shepard. Jennifer Hale, the voice of female Commander Shepard, said on Wednesday that she has not been approached by BioWare to record new dialogue for an alternate ending.
Speaking with Edge magazine, Hale said that she has not been contacted by BioWare in any capacity, to record additional dialogue for future downloadable content or otherwise. She went on to express her own conflicted feelings about Mass Effect 3’s ending, not because of how it closed the narrative of a character she voiced for more than five years, but for the reaction it elicited in the audience. “I was surprised about the level of passion about the ending, but there’s something really great about that, too: It says people are invested and they really care and they don’t want to let go.”
Hale doesn’t necessarily think a new ending is necessary even though she would love the chance to reprise her role. “I have mixed feelings. I really respect the team and what they did and how hard they worked. And endings are hard! They’re cutting new ground; the players are so involved in this game that to come up with an ending to something everyone’s got their hand in is a huge challenge. So maybe it’s going to take a little work to get everything sorted in a way that’s going to make everybody happy.”
How BioWare will make everyone happy should be revealed soon. Studio president Dr. Ray Muzyka said in a statement on Mar. 21 that BioWare would detail new content “for those seeking further closure to their journey” in April.
That Hale isn’t involved in creating new content for BioWare implies that any new content that debuts in April was planned as part of Mass Effect 3 all along. After all, the game does say that players can continue Shepard’s adventure in downloadable content after the end credits.
If that isn’t true though, and the company is actually making new content that wasn’t planned from the start, it will be a story that takes the perspective away from Shepard. That option might be just as frustrating to fans as the point of the single-player Mass Effect video games is to inhabit that character. Placing the player behind the wheel of someone else, either a new character or a surviving party character, would be jarring to say the least.
