Margot Robbie Deborah Ann Woll Jessica Chastain Gemma Arterton Adrianne Palicki Rachel Nichols

Margot Robbie Relatively unknown until her scene-stealing performance in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, Australian-born Robbie will next be seen in sci-fi apocalyptic drama Z for Zachariah, opposite Chris Pine and BAFTA award winner Chiwetel Ejiofor. Her dainty cheeks will also be captivating Alexander Skarsgard’s Tarzan as his love interest Jane Porter. If producers wanted a fresh-faced rising star to hand the Normandy’s reigns to, Robbie could be a brilliant choice. Deborah Ann Woll Brooklyn’s favourite vampire from True Blood was a relative unknown until she was thrust into the seedy underbelly of Alan Ball’s show. With the last season soon to broadcast, Woll has been casting her net into feature films, with comedy Meet Me in Montenegro, as well as dramas The Automatic Hate and Forever, in which she plays the lead. Her role as country bumpkin Jessica Hamby, who was quickly turned into a deadly creature of the night, showed the world that Woll could bring a great combination of emotions and a true sense of depth to her role. If she were given the opportunity to play FemShep, these qualities would help her navigate the various crew members of the Normandy. Jessica Chastain Two-time Academy Award nominated for her roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain’s rise to success has been very fast, considering that her first role was on ER only a decade ago. It was 2011, the year she appeared in seven films, that showed the world that not only was she a workaholic, but a sheer force of nature on screen. She has kept up the pace, and is soon to be seen opposite Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year, as well as Christopher Nolan’s top-secret project Interstellar alongside Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. The latter looks to have its roots in the sci-fi genre, and knowing Nolan, it will be of epic proportions, so maybe a taste of that would be enough to sway Chastain to take on one of gaming’s most famous female roles. Gemma Arterton This English rose has already participated in her fair share of video game adaptations, having been the princess that needed Jake Gyllenhaal to rescue her in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Since her breakout role in St. Trinian’s, she has flitted back and forth between small indie hits such as Tamara Drewe and Friday-night popcorn flicks like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. If offered the chance to play the lead rather than the damsel, this feisty British belle should jump at the chance to kick some alien arse.

Adrianne Palicki The girl who was almost Wonder Woman, Palicki is best known as heart-breaker Tyra Collette in one of the best TV shows of all time, Friday Night Lights. After the collapse of David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman TV show, Palicki went on to star opposite The Rock and Bruce Willis in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which proved to be infinitely better than the first installment, with a large part of that down to Palicki. She’s coming back for the third entry, but since then has drifted back to TV with roles in two shows adapted from films: From Dusk Till Dawn and About a Boy. As well as being graced with good looks, she has the right mix of sass and seriousness to make the world of Mass Effect believable.

Rachel Nichols Nichols is also an alumni of the G.I. Joe films, although she appeared in the disastrous first installment. Since then she has been appearing regularly on the small screen, as a recurring character in Criminal Minds before taking the lead as future cop Kiera Cameron in the geek-tastic time-travel smash Continuum. Now in its third season on SyFy, Nichols has managed to make the show her own, and having dabbled with red hair in the past (and green skin in Star Trek), she could certainly do the same with FemShep.

So, readers, what do you think? Should we have stuck to the box art rendition of Shepard, or branched out into some of the variations that can be achieved in game? If producers were so bold as to indulge our idea of casting both male and female leads, do you think any of these could manage to do the role justice that Jennifer Hale managed in three games? Or have we missed someone from the list who would be better to navigate the Normandy with a smooth and steady hand?

Sadly, once again, Jennifer Lawrence has not made the list. One day, we will find a video game role for her.