Launching on Prime Video with all eight episodes on Thursday April 11th, ‘Fallout’ manages the tough ask of bringing a complex and sprawling video game to life in a way that will feel familiar to fans of the game and its darkly humorous style while also spinning its own tale set in that universe.
Continuing the trend for successful video game adaptations, the new show is a wild, freewheeling and well-acted ride through a landscape that feels familiar and yet has plenty of invention to spare.
With their ambitious adaptation of ‘Westworld’, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy proved they have what it takes to bring a popular story to life in a new way. And even if that series ultimately ended up trying itself up in intellectual knots, it had a lot to say about technology, humanity and society whilst presenting some unique visions and concepts.
‘Fallout’, which never pretends to explore such high-minded ideals, is its own way smart, satirical and entertaining while also being far wilder and out there in execution. And that’s thanks primarily to show co-creators and overseers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, who really let loose when it comes to the oddball characters and creatures populating this story.
If you’re an established fan of Tim Cain’s games, then you’ll find plenty to enjoy here. And if not, you won’t be turned off.
Perhaps the smartest move that Robertson-Dworet and Wagner made is to set this TV iteration of ‘Fallout’ in its own story, borrowing concepts and some key characters from the game, but introducing us to an out-there scorched Earth primarily through the eyes of devout and plucky Vault Dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell). As with the game, we experience the craziness that lurks outside the protective doors initially in contained form when her Vault is attacked, and her father (Kyle McLachlan’s Hank) kidnapped.
It makes for a handy, organic way to provide the necessary exposition as Lucy makes her way through this terrifying, beautifully-designed world, meeting dangerous people and unusual creatures created in the centuries since America was set aflame in nuclear combat.
Lucy’s story in particular works well as a narrative focal point, but there’s also some welcome depth to the antagonist of the piece, the Ghoul, played by Walton Goggins. Looking for all the world like a cousin to Marvel’s Red Skull, he’s also a combo of grizzled gunslinger and bitter warrior. And the show digs further into his backstory in ways that we won’t spoil here.
Which is not to say Nolan in particular doesn’t have a hand in the show –– he directs the first three episodes, dictating the tone and style of the show, and here feels like a director unrestrained after the statelier, brain-fodder feel of ‘Westworld’ (for all that show’s bursts of violence). He and the creative team have crafted a truly lived-in look to the ‘Fallout’ world, with distinctive characters and intriguing plot turns.
Purnell is more than able to carry the show as Lucy, who has her preconceived notions of how the world should work quickly shattered when she ventures beyond the Vault following its breaching by raiders. It’s through her eyes that we see most of the story, and Purnell brings plenty of charisma to the part, along with a strength and steel that Lucy needs to survive.
Yet its Goggins who has the most to do here –– he’s the first character we meet in the time before the nuclear attack, his long-lived nature is explored and explained, and there are flashbacks to the man he was back then. It’s a fully-rounded role and one that the experienced character fills with gusto and his usual scuffed charm. There’s a sly humor to his present-day demeanor and some real pathos in his past.
If there is a weak link among the show’s stories, it’s perhaps in Aaron Moten’s Maximus, the young, brutalized member of the Brotherhood of Steel, an armed force dedicated to unearthing the former world one item at a time and enforcing their own mechanized brand of rough justice on the current one. While the attitude of the Brotherhood and his own rebellious reaction to it offers some fun, it’s perhaps a little more straightforward than some of the other elements and doesn’t work as well.
Which is no fault of Moten, who contributes a likeable, conflicted performance in the role. Around them is an excellent cast of supporting characters, with Michael Emerson it’s best to experience for the first time on screen, so as not to diminish its entertainment factor. Suffice to say, it’s the sort of quirky performance in which he excels.
‘Fallout’ should serve as both a way into the story for those who’ve never played the game and a worthy extension of the world for those who have completed the various releases and have a Vault Boy Funko Pop giving them a thumbs-up from their desk.
We’ve seen any number of post-apocalyptic stories through the years, and if this borrows some common tropes and visuals, it has more than enough tweaks and humor to keep it feeling unique and often laugh out loud funny –– when it’s not being gruesome. But it’s always compelling and can stand proudly among the better adaptations of game content.
The show depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. Two centuries later, a young woman (Ella Purnell), a descendant of the original “Vault Dwellers” from one of many Vaults, leaves behind the only life she has ever known to venture out into the dangerously hostile and savage Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles.
(L to R) Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten talk ‘Fallout.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten about their work on ‘Fallout’, their first reaction to the screenplay, their knowledge of the game, their characters, and the world that Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have created.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Purnell, Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Emerson, executive producer and director Jonathan Nolan, and executive producers and writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner.
Moviefone: To begin with, Ella, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and what were some of the aspects of your character that you were excited to explore on screen?
Ella Purnell: I remember it perfectly. I was sitting on the couch. I was ill, and every five pages I’d be like, “Wait, this is really cool.” I just kept going and kept going. I was absolutely blown away by the level of detail. I knew of the games, but I wasn’t familiar, I hadn’t played them at that point, so I wasn’t familiar with the tone. I got that from the script. I got the dark comedy, I got the balance of the humor with the heavy post-apocalyptic, and the fifties/sixties retro-futuristic style was so exciting to me. More than anything, it was the character. She, I just thought was so funny and direct, and I really loved her attitudes, which is partly a product of her upbringing and her environment, and partly just who she is. You know when you really want to watch a show that you should really try to be in the show.
MF: Aaron, how familiar were you with the game and what was your reaction to this incredible world that Jonathan Nolan and the writers have created?
Aaron Moten: I mean, I knew of ‘Fallout’, right? I was not of my friend group that got into playing ‘Fallout’ but I played other games at the time. Here’s this weird full circle moment where it’s like the world is telling me, “Hey, we’ll give you a chance now in real time to roam through these worlds.” I mean, it is incredibly detailed and it’s so dense, and that’s what makes it fun, especially as an actor to get to really feel like this is your playground for the day. It got so exciting where we would be looking at scripts and when we’d be talking on set about like, “Oh man, I can’t wait to see what they come up with for this setup. And where are we going to be for such and such scene?” It just was so thrilling, honestly, as an actor to get to live in this world.
MF: Ella, can you talk about Lucy’s journey and what she discovers about herself and the world around her after she leaves the vault?
EP: It’s a great question. What I like about Lucy is there’s so much more to her than what you see, and I think people will underestimate her, and I’m excited to show them what she’s capable of. She’s obviously incredibly naive and innocent. She grew up in a vault underground being drip-fed propaganda from a corporation her entire life. She’s the daughter of the overseer. She’s essentially the president’s daughter. She has a role and a duty and a belief that that is what she was bred and is going to do. I think people don’t know who they are sometimes until they’re put in a certain situation, a challenging situation. Only then do you really know what you’re made of. That for her is absolutely going to the Wasteland. I mean, she really goes through it. It’s tough for her, and she just has this bravery that emerges that I don’t think she even knew she had inside her. It comes from this inherent belief, and choosing to continue to believe that humans have inherent goodness inside them, no matter how evil and lawless they may appear to be on the Wasteland.
MF: Finally, Aaron, can you talk about Maximus’s role in the Brotherhood of Steel, and does he begin to question what he’s fighting for?
AM: Absolutely. I think, that’s one of these things that the characters have a lot of differences, between these three main characters, but they have similarities, and they have these touchstones of moments that they kind of separately share. I agree with until Maximus is put into certain situations, it’s a discovery of what do I really feel about something? I know that the Brotherhood is a harsh reality, and even being born and raised in the Wasteland would be a harsh reality. It’s a tough existence for Maximus and everything I think has been a bit of a struggle for him. So, survival being an important thing for all these characters, I think he’s trying to look out for himself at times but is he making a noble pursuit and it’s about rising-up, gaining power and fighting off his own devils because of that.
The show depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. Two centuries later, a young woman (Ella Purnell), a descendant of the original “Vault Dwellers” from one of many Vaults, leaves behind the only life she has ever known to venture out into the dangerously hostile and savage Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles.
Prime Video has unveiled the first trailer for ‘Fallout,’ the long-awaited series based on the iconic post-apocalyptic video game franchise that first began publishing back in 1997, yielding four games in the main narrative and more than half a dozen spinoffs since then.
In the games, nuclear war has rendered the United States (and the world at large) into what’s called the Wasteland, with pockets of survivors living underground in highly protected shelters known as Vaults. The games are set further and further in the future each time out, with inhabitants of the Vaults venturing out into the Wasteland on various missions and encountering dangerous creatures (such as the artificially created bioweapons known as Deathclaws), mutants, and irradiated humans.
‘Fallout,’ the streaming series, takes much of this premise and the popular ‘Fallout 3’ game – which is set 200 years after the war – as its starting point. Ella Purnell stars as Lucy, a character created for the show, who ventures outside her Vault and learns the hellish nature of life on the surface. Along the way she meets Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the militaristic technology cult The Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a mysterious figure with a connection to the past and the Vaults.
(L to R) Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, Todd Howard, and Walter Goggin from ‘Fallout’ attend The Game Awards 2023 at the Peacock Theater on December 7, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Scott Kirkland/PictureGroup.
After years of rumored films and false starts, ‘Fallout’ comes to streaming thanks to husband-and-wife team Jonathan (Jonah) Nolan and Lisa Joy, whose previous sci-fi series was HBO’s ‘Westworld.’ Joining Nolan and Joy as executive producers and showrunners are Geneva Robertson-Dworet (‘Captain Marvel’), Graham Wagner (‘Portlandia’) and Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios, along with James Altman for Bethesda Softworks.
In conjunction with the arrival of the trailer, Prime Video held a virtual press conference featuring Nolan (who directed the first three episodes), Robertson-Dworet, Wagner, and Howard, along with Purnell, Moten, and surprise remote guest Walton Goggins.
Here are 10 things we learned at that press conference, edited for clarity and length.
Jonathan Nolan says that his obsession with ‘Fallout’ was so intense that, ironically enough, he spent more time early in his career playing the game than looking for writing opportunities.
Jonathan Nolan: I think it started, for me, with ‘Fallout 3,’ which devoured about a year of my life. You know, I was an aspiring young writer at that point. It almost derailed my entire career. It’s so ludicrously playable and fun. I mean, seriously, the games were just incredible. It’s such a rare thing and such an unbelievable thing — and I’ve gotten to do it twice in my career — to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe, to create your own version, I guess, of that universe. The first go-round for me was Batman (Nolan co-wrote ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ with his brother, Christopher Nolan), and this time with ‘Fallout,’ a series of games that I absolutely loved. About five years ago, Todd and I went and had lunch together — it was a bit of a fanning-out moment for me — and just started talking about the possibilities of how you could take this incredible universe… we came out of lunch with a handshake deal that we’re going to try to make this work.
Graham Wagner says that the show is a continuation of the mythology from the games but also a new story, not an adaptation of the existing games.
Graham Wagner: It’s set in the world of ‘Fallout,’ but it’s a new story that comes, sort of, after the events we’ve seen. So the show is really built on 25 years of creativity and thinking and building. We sort of thought the best thing to do is to continue that [rather than] retread it. Because that’s sort of what has worked with ‘Fallout’ over the years. It’s traded hands, it’s changed, it’s been altered, and it’s a living thing. We kind of felt like we ought to take a swing at trying to build a new piece on top of all of that.
3) What Canada Has to Do With A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland
(L to R) Actors Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Co-Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and Actor Aaron Moten attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
According to Geneva Robertson-Dworet, a big factor in the appeal of adapting ‘Fallout’ was the underlying themes of the story.
Geneva Robertson-Dworet: The themes of ‘Fallout’ are also what really drove us to want to adapt this with Jonah, and we were really especially drawn to the social commentary inherent to the idea of these Vaults. Graham is a citizen of Canada. I’m a dual citizen of the US and New Zealand, and we often talk about how those countries are sort of celebrated as these wonderful, peaceful utopias…But what would it mean if those countries were to open their borders and let everyone in, and everyone could have a better life? Well, they would change, right? We saw the Vaults as basically a mirror to that. This idea that, like, ‘What if we create a Vault that is very peaceful and wonderful?’ But what does it mean that not everyone gets to live there, and people suffer on the surface?
4) Why It Took Years to Bring ‘Fallout’ to the Screen
Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios says that the company was very deliberate in allowing ‘Fallout’ to be adapted to another medium.
Todd Howard: People would approach us over, I would say, a 10-year period after ‘Fallout 3’ came out, from 2009 on, to adapt ‘Fallout’ to film or television. We took a very cautious approach, and Jonah was somebody [who] I was such a fan of the movies he did and the TV he was doing, and I actually had someone reach out. And when I first talked to Jonah, I mean, honestly, it was like someone I had known for a long time: [he] obviously played the games a ton, and his approach, right from the get-go, was in sync with what I was thinking.
5) Why Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten Were Thrilled to Be Part of ‘Fallout’
Actor Ella Purnell attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
British actor Ella Purnell and ‘Emancipation’ star Aaron Moten described what made their characters so exciting to play.
Ella Purnell: Lucy is a Vault Dweller, and what excited me about playing her was that she is so innocent and naive and obviously very privileged as well. It was exciting for me to start in that place. She’s essentially a newborn baby. She hasn’t had any real-life experiences. All she knows is what she was taught and what she’s read in books that she has in the Vault. It’s limited. Then you put her in the Wasteland, and what happens? What happens with that? That’s a really exciting place for me to start in.
Actor Aaron Moten attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
Aaron Moten: I play Maximus. He’s part of the Brotherhood of Steel. I guess what excited me was a little bit of what Ella’s talking about — that starting place, and where you go from there. [He’s] a person who’s lived in the Wasteland for his entire life, and he has to have a certain type of moral ambiguity that is forced upon him, living in the world that he lives in. Where do you go from there? How do you hold onto what is your unique, pure self, how does that change, and how do you discover what it is that you want?
Not able to participate in the press conference, acclaimed actor Walton Goggins (‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’) beamed in with a pre-recorded message about his character. Alive since before the war and once known as Cooper Howard, he’s now a mutated bounty hunter called The Ghoul.
Walton Goggins: The Ghoul is, in some ways, the poet Virgil in ‘Dante’s Inferno.’ He’s the guide, if you will, through this irradiated hellscape where we find ourselves in this post-apocalyptic world. He is a bounty hunter, an iconic bounty hunter. He is pragmatic, he is ruthless, he has his own set of moral codes, and he has a wicked sense of humor — much like me [laughs]. No, he’s a very, very, very complicated guy, and to understand him, you have to understand the person that he was before the war. He had a name. His name was Cooper Howard, and he was a vastly different person than the ghoul that you’ve seen so far. Over the course of the show, through his experience back in the world before the nuclear fallout, you will understand how the world was, and he is the bridge between both these worlds.
7) The Level of Detail in ‘Fallout’ Is Off The Charts
Both executive producer Todd Howard and star Ella Purnell emphasize that there is an incredible amount of detail and world-building in the show, with Purnell adding that most of the show was done practically instead of digitally, as per the wishes of Jonathan Nolan.
Todd Howard: The authenticity they brought to it [is] obsessive. We like to say when we make the games that we obsess over every pixel. And Jonah and crew, they obsessed over every pixel [laughs] of every frame, just to make it authentic. The other thing, watching that trailer, the trick with ‘Fallout’ is it has so many different tones. It goes between the serious, the dramatic, and the action, and some humor and nostalgic music and dramatic music…it weaves those different things together in a very unique blend that only ‘Fallout’ can bring, and they’ve done just an awesome job.
Ella Purnell: This was so much fun, working on this show. Every shoot is hard, not every shoot is fun, and this one was just so fun for an actor. No two days were the same. Every prop, every costume, every location, every set was just bonkers. One of the joys of working with Jonah is he loves to do everything, as much as he can, for real. So you’re not working with that much green screen or dudes in green leotards. You get to really work with practicals, and you don’t have to imagine so much. It’s real and you can really do it.
Two completely different aspects of ‘Fallout’ – the physical protective suits known as power armor, worn by the Brotherhood of Steel, and the more elusive overall vibe of the show – are the two elements that Jonathan Nolan cites as difficult to pin down.
Jonathan Nolan: We talked a lot about the power armor. The tone was a big thing. I think the tone was maybe the most challenging and the most intimidating thing for me. But working with Geneva and Graham, you knew that we were going to be in a really good place with that incredibly ambitious story. On a technical level, the scope of the world and the power armor in particular was one of those things where you go, ‘Oh, how on earth are we going to do that?’ But we got there.
9) What Sets ‘Fallout’ Apart From a Million Other Shows
There are tons of shows out there now on many different platforms competing for our eyes, and quite a number of them are actually set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. But ‘Fallout,’ says its creators, is different.
Geneva Robertson-Dworet: It’s not just the incredible tone, which is, as people have talked about, this unbelievable blend of action and comedy and just weirdness. But I think it’s these incredibly prescient themes, factionalism being maybe the most obvious. When you play the game ‘Fallout,’ you go from settlement to settlement or from faction to faction. That was something we were really excited to manifest with our heroes.
Jonathan Nolan: I think you also have a moment that we’re in right now in which the world seems to be ever more frightening and dour. So [this is] an opportunity for us to work on a show that gets to look that in the eye, right, and we get to talk about the end of the world, but to do it with a sense of humor. I think, honestly, there’s a thread of optimism woven into the show as well, that I think for us, you know, is a bit of expiation to be able to work on this every day.
10) Pleasing ‘Fallout’ Fans is Not the First Priority
(L to R) Actors Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, and Walton Goggins speak onstage during ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
Video game adaptations are notoriously hard to get right – the filmmakers often try (and fail) to walk a tightrope between servicing the fans of the game and attracting new viewers who couldn’t care less about the game. Jonathan Nolan doesn’t think that’s the right approach.
Jonathan Nolan: I don’t think you really can set out to please the fans of anything, or please anyone other than yourself. I think you have to come into this trying to make the show that you want to make, and trusting that as fans of the game, we would find the pieces that were essential to us about the games and try to do the best version of those that we can. I think it’s kind of a fool’s errand to try to figure out how to make people happy in that way. You’ve got to make yourself happy. And I’ve made myself very happy with the show.
(L to R) Actors Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Moten attend with ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
What is the Plot of ‘Fallout’?
The show depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. Two centuries later, a young woman (Ella Purnell), a descendant of the original “Vault Dwellers” from one of many Vaults, leaves behind the only life she has ever known to venture out into the dangerously hostile and savage Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles.
(L to R) Actors Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, and Walton Goggins speak onstage during ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
