Developer BioWare has explained that your character started in the first Mass Effect will carry through as the main protagonist straight through the entire trilogy up to Mass Effect 3.
Well, it’s only “your character”, if you manage to keep Commander Shepard alive. The thing is that you’ll only get to carry your Shepard on to Mass Effect 3 if you survive through Mass Effect 2.
But it’s not quite like when you let important supporting character die in the first game and they won’t ever return again in the sequels. It’s different for Shepard; as Mass Effect 2’s Project Director, Casey Hudson, claims that while it’s possible to kill Shephard in Mass Effect 2, the character will return for the third and final game in the trilogy.
“If your Shepard dies in the end of Mass Effect 2 […] you can play Mass Effect 3 as ‘a’ Shepard – just not ‘your’ Shepard.” -Casey Hudson
To quote: “If your Shepard dies in the end of Mass Effect 2, that’s the end of him / her.
In that case, you can play Mass Effect 3 as ‘a’ Shepard – just not ‘your’ Shepard. As in real life, not being able to keep living is really the main down-side of death. So if you care about playing the next game with your character, make sure you survive this one.”
Read the full interview at IGN.
Update December 18, 2009: BioWare’s lead technical artist Adrien Cho said pre-production on Mass Effect 3 will start before Mass Effect 2’s release. To quote: “Right now the team’s still working on finishing the game. But we’ve also migrated to working on all the downloadable content. That’s our next focus. And then a select team of people have, as they get back next week, will start envisioning the very early pre-production phases of Mass Effect 3… oh sorry, the Mass Effect trilogy.“