“Mass Effect’s” Commander Shepard Originally a Woman First

Ex-Animator Reveals First Steps

By Bryan Smith on January 9, 2015 at 6:18pm

Commander Shepard from the "Mass Effect's" series was originally designed as a woman first. Taking to Twitter, Jonathan Cooper, ex-animator for Bioware and "Mass Effect 1 & 2," stated that Commander Shepard was first designed as a woman.

In another tweet, Cooper explained the motion capture for "Jade Empire" was repurposed for both male and female Shepards. It had always been the plan to have Shepard to have both a male and female representation.