Four Sci-Fi Actors I Want in Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect. It's known for many things: excellent storytelling, remarkably complex characters, powerful emotions, stellar writing and dialogue, an incredible universe and finally amazing voice acting. The Mass Effect series simply has some of the greatest voice acting ever recorded. You've seen me heap praise on Jennifer Hale's performance and while I do think she's the best, nearly everyone in the series is phenomenal.

But along with traditional voice actors we usually hear in video games, the series also has many celebrity voice actors such as Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Yvonne Strahovski, etc. Many of these are sci-fi actors which has helped make the series the nerd heaven it is. Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn from Star Trek, Tricia Helfer and Michael Hogan from Battlestar Galactica, Adam Baldwin from Firefly, Claudia Black from Farscape, and Carrie-Anne Moss from The Matrix to name a few.

With the end of the trilogy coming closer I want to give a quick list of four sci-fi actors that I'm hoping to hear in Mass Effect 3. These will be placed in alphabetical order from the first letter of the first name. This is NOT a "Top X List", this is just for fun and I don't necessarily expect these to be followed up on (though I won't complain). So let's get started.

KATEE SACKHOFF 

From BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Played KARA THRACE a.k.a. STARBUCK

Battlestar Galactica is arguably the greatest sci-fi series ever put on television. Incredible writing, characters and phenomenal acting. The show was about how the human-created cylons (they were created by aliens in the original series) rebelled against humanity and retreated for 40 years after a war. They strike back with a massive nuclear strike leaving only 50,000 humans left in existence. What follows is a show with unprecedented writing for a sci-fi TV series with gripping character development and some of the most striking allegories to the post-9/11 world since the Twin Towers fell, and I'm not just talking compared to other sci-fi series either.

My favorite character consistently was Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, who before the series started was the most controversial. Changing the Starbuck from the original series from a man to a woman was a controversial choice but it paid off brilliantly. Katee Sackhoff played the character with remarkable energy as a badass pilot but also an extremely flawed human being with many vulnerabilities and mental/emotional scars that keep building up over the series.

So why is her addition logical? Well a few reasons. To be fair, many of the Galactica actors are logical but she was just my favorite character. First off, there already two actors from Battlestar Galactica in Mass Effect: Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul 'motherfrakking' Tigh) as Captain Bailey in Mass Effect 2 who may or may not be back for 3, and Tricia Helfer (Number Six) as EDI in Mass Effect 2 who has confirmed that she will be back for 3.

Most importantly, the entire quarian-geth conflict is basically an entire plot homage to Battlestar Galactica. What I would love to hear is Katee Sackhoff voicing a female quarian marine maybe opposite of Kal'Reegar. It would be a frakking awesome homage and actress allusion to her most famous and greatest role.

NATHAN FILLION

From Firefly

Played CAPTAIN MALCOM 'MAL' REYNOLDS

Ah Firefly. The poster child for great television shows cancelled WAY too soon. This show didn't even get to finish its first season despite how awesome it was. Joss Whedon took the concept of space as a new frontier like the west and applied that literally to the universe. From that we got a 14 episode series (with only 11 aired) and a kickass movie called Serenity, one of the best sci-fi films ever.

The show was about a crew of outlaws on a Firefly class ship called Serenity. The main character was Captain Malcolm 'Mal Reynolds, a war-veteran of a war that his side lost with the galaxy now being ruled by the group he opposed, The Alliance. A character who does many shady things to stay alive and also loves sticking it to the Alliance but is also a good man at heart, and messing with his crew is the biggest mistake you could make. Nathan Fillion delivered a rousing performance as the captain in every episode and in the movie.

Nathan Fillion is probably the most logical additions out of all of these four actors on here. Not adding him to the cast would really feel like a missed opportunity, for four major reasons. First off, Nathan Fillion is a big gamer himself and a huge Halo fan. He's actually one of only two people besides Bungie employees who can wear a flaming helmet. You might have heard him in ODST and Reach as Sergeant Ed Buck. Second, Adam Baldwin who played Jayne Cobb in Firefly is already in Mass Effect playing the quarian marine Kal'Reegar (though I don't know if he's in Mass Effect 3).

Third, Mass Effect may not make a whole plot homage to Firefly like with Battlestar Galactica, but there are a buttload of Firefly and Serenity references. Hell, Zaeed Massani (downloadable squad member in Mass Effect 2) was basically there to make Firefly shout-outs. And a lot of the elements of the universe have inspiration from Firefly (Blue Suns anyone?). Finally, Nathan Fillion has WORKED with BioWare before on Jade Empire voicing Gao the Lesser. So, if you haven't yet BioWare, give Nathan a call and get him in this gorram game.

PATRICK STEWART

From STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Played CAPTAIN JEAN-LUC PICARD

Star Trek: The Next Generation is easily the most successful and popular spin-off of the original series and my favorite with Deep Space Nine following. I really don't know which I think is better, the original series or the this one. I think they're about on equal footing with each having some incredible episodes. Admittedly they also had some stupid ones also but I can overlook those. However, The Wrath of Khan is still the best movie.

As for Patrick Stewart, what's not to like about this guy? A Shakespearean actor, Captain Picard (obviously), Professor Xavier, who is also a Beavis and Butthead fan. Just try to imagine Patrick Stewart watching episodes of Beavis and Butthead. This guy's also get a kickass, perfect for a video game.

As for Mass Effect, there have already been two actors from The Next Generation as Mass Effect characters. Marina Sirtis (also Demona from Gargoyles which also starred Keith David who plays Captain Anderson in Mass Effect) played Matriarch Benezia, Saren's advisor and Liara's mother in the first game. Michael Dorn played Gatagog Uvenk and TOTALLY lived up to the Worf Effect, where his character despite being a huge krogan can be headbutted up to three times. Once by Shepard him/herself.  Whenever I see my FemShep headbutt him I laugh my ass off and love her that much more. Whoops, got a little sidetracked.

So we've got a history of Next Generation actors in Mass Effect. The real reason I want to see Patrick Stewart in this is that the last game I saw him in, Oblivion, felt like a wasted opportunity. He gave you the first part of the quest and was summarily killed off in the prologue. BioWare has shown they know how to utilize big name actors (although Bethesda has done so as well), for example Martin Sheen. Playing the Illusive Man, he gave a tour de force performance and was basically the driving force of the story in Mass Effect 2. I'm not saying Stewart would be that big, but I'd like to see him be done justice.

SUMMER GLAU

From FIREFLY and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

Played RIVER TAM (in Firefly), CAMERON and ALLISON YOUNG (Terminator: TSCC)

Like her Firefly co-star, Nathan Fillion, anything that Summer Glau appears in instantly becomes more awesome just because she's in it. For this reason it's strange that her two most famous roles were in television shows that didn't get anywhere near the audience they deserved. While the cancellation of The Sarah Connor Chronicles wasn't nearly as bad as Firefly (it at least got to finish two seasons, let alone it's first one), it was still an excellent series that got cancelled way to soon and was easily the best addition to The Terminator franchise since Terminator 2. And Summer delivered throughout the two season run.

The role most remember her for though is as River Tam in Firefly, the girl tortured by the Alliance for years to turn her into a killing machine (sounds kind of like Cerberus with Jack in Mass Effect 2) who is so traumatized that she's practically emotionally and mentally broken. She has some cools moments throughout the series that hint at her power and potential. But it wasn't until the movie Serenity that these cool moments became downright AWESOME as she becomes the biggest badass of the franchise. She's part of why that movie was so damn good.

As far as I know, she's never done any video game roles (don't quote me on that), but it's never too late to get her in one, especially one as sci-fi heavy as Mass Effect. And I've also got the perfect role for her: a biotic with cybernetic enhancements. This would be a perfect callback to her two most famous roles. 

The cybernetic enhancements wouldn't be perfect but it would still be a good shout-out to when she played a terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And of course the biotics would be a perfect shout-out to River. And of course, she would need to say somewhere, "I can kill you with my brain." I would love to see her in this game.

Actually I would love to see all of these four and more in Mass Effect 3. The series has made excellent use of sci-fi actors and non sci-fi actors in addition to the rest of the brilliant cast. It would be both great shout-outs to some of the greatest influences on the Mass Effect universe and the excellent acting ability of these four and other actors would enhance the drama I'm expecting for the conclusion. Obviously, it's BioWare's call and I'm not going to presume I know better than them but I would still love it.

Although, I still stand by my point that not getting Nathan Fillion would be a wasted opportunity.