Hollywood has brought us dozens of visions of what survival in a post-apocalyptic world might look like, but perhaps none so iconic as the one we’ve gotten to explore in the Fallout games. Soon, those worlds are set to collide as Amazon Studios is already underway with a Fallout TV series adaptation.
We’re just scavenging for scraps at this point when it comes to details, but here’s what we know so far.
When is the Fallout TV series going to air?
The Fallout TV series is currently in pre-production, meaning they probably haven’t started shooting any footage whatsoever just yet. There’s a lot involved in this process, and how long it takes can vary quite a bit from production to production. As a point of comparison, Season 2 of Netflix’s The Witcher series went into pre-production in January 2020 and aired in December of 2021, but was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most television has a pace of one season/series per year.
I’d be willing to bet the Fallout TV series will start airing by around the middle of 2023, barring any major, unexpected hold-ups like a global nuclear war.
What is the Fallout TV series about?
Info on the plot has been very difficult to come by. We know it will deal with the irradiated, irreverent post-apocalyptic world we’ve come to know from the games, but not where on Earth it will be set, nor how long after the bombs fell.
Amazon has a bit of a delicate balancing act to manage here, as it will need to introduce the setting to a lot of viewers who have never heard of it while also making it feel authentic and satisfying to existing fans. If it were up to me, I’d say the best way to do that would be to focus on a region we’ve never seen in the games before. But I’d also bet we’ll get acquainted with iconic organizations like the Brotherhood of Steel early on in the show.
Who is starring in the Fallout TV series?
(Image credit: HBO / Walton Goggins)
The Fallout TV series stars Walton Goggins, who recently voiced Cecil Stedman in Amazon’s animated adaptation of Invincible. You may also know him as Boyd Crowder from Justified, or for his roles in The Shield or Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful 8. We don’t know much about his character, though there are some rumors floating around that he may be playing a ghoul. Since some of these irradiated immortals still have memories of life before the war, that would make a lot of sense—giving the audience a proxy character with one foot in a more recognizable society, reacting to the horrors of the post-apocalypse much as any of us would. And Goggins definitely has the bone structure.
The one other confirmed casting is Ella Purnell, probably best known to PC gamers as the voice of Jinx in the Netflix series Arcane. She also played the teen version of Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent in the 2014 live action film. We don’t even know her character’s name, but if Goggins’ character turns out to be a ghoul with knowledge of the good ol’ days, it would make sense to pair him with someone younger who is more adapted to the post-apocalypse.
Who is writing and directing the Fallout TV series?
Amazon has named two showrunners to head up the project: Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner.
Robertson-Dworet has writing credits on Captain Marvel and the 2018 live action Tomb Raider film. Wagner comes from more of a comedy background, with writer and producer credits on The Office, Portlandia, and Silicon Valley. This might suggest that Amazon wants Fallout to have a stronger comedic side, which would be in keeping with the tone of the games—they often contrast horror and bleakness with madcap absurdity.
Lisa Joy, who has writer and producer credits on Westworld, Burn Notice, and Pushing Daisies, is attached to write at least one episode. Jonathan Nolan, brother of director Christopher Nolan, is also listed as a writer and a director for at least one episode. Nolan penned the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight, and has worked as a writer/director on Westworld and Person of Interest.
Will Vault Boy be in the show?
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Unless there are no thumbs in this version of the future, surely he’s a shoo-in.
