Fallout (American TV series)

Fallout is an American post-apocalyptic drama television series created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet for Amazon Prime Video. Based on the role-playing video game franchise created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins.

Amazon purchased the rights to produce a live-action project in 2020, and the series was announced that July, with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's Kilter Films joined by Bethesda Game Studios in the production. Nolan directed the first three episodes. Bethesda Game Studios producer Todd Howard, who directed various games in the series, signed on to executive produce alongside Nolan and Joy. Robertson-Dworet and Wagner were hired as the series' showrunners in January 2022, and Goggins and Purnell were cast in February and March, respectively.

Fallout premiered on Prime Video on April 10, 2024. The series received generally positive reviews from critics and fans, with praise for the performances (particularly of Purnell, Moten, and Goggins), writing, visuals, production design, and faithfulness to the source material. Later that month, the series was renewed for a second season. Fallout was also nominated for 16 Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Goggins.

Premise
The series depicts the aftermath of the Great War of 2077, an apocalyptic nuclear exchange between the United States and China in an alternate history of Earth where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. Many survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, most being unaware that each Vault was designed to perform sociological and psychological experiments on the Vault Dwellers on behalf of Vault-Tec. More than 200 years later in 2296, a young woman named Lucy leaves behind her home in Vault 33 to venture out into the dangerously unforgiving wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles to look for her father, who has been kidnapped by wasteland raiders. Along the way, she meets a Brotherhood of Steel squire and a legendary ghoul bounty hunter, each having their own mysterious pasts and agendas to settle.

Main

 * Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, a Vault Dweller.
 * Luciana VanDette portrays young Lucy MacLean.
 * Aaron Moten as Maximus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel and a later ally of Lucy.
 * Amir Carr portrays young Maximus in subsequent flashbacks.
 * Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, Lucy's father and the Overseer of Vault 33.
 * Moisés Arias as Norm MacLean, a Vault 33 resident, and Lucy's brother.
 * Xelia Mendes-Jones as Dane, a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel and Maximus's closest friend.
 * Walton Goggins as The Ghoul / Cooper Howard, a once famous Hollywood actor and Vault-Tec ambassador before The War, who mutated into a ghoul after the bombs fell, and now makes a living as a gunslinger and bounty hunter.

Recurring

 * Sarita Choudhury as Lee Moldaver, the commander of a New California Republic military division with a past connection to Hank.
 * Leslie Uggams as Betty Pearson, a member of Vault 33's governing council, and later Overseer.
 * Johnny Pemberton as Thaddeus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel who later serves Maximus.
 * Zach Cherry as Woody Thomas, a member of Vault 33's governing council.
 * Annabel O'Hagan as Stephanie Harper, a pregnant resident of Vault 33 and Lucy's closest friend.
 * Dave Register as Chet, Lucy's cousin and Vault 33's gatekeeper.
 * Rodrigo Luzzi as Reg McPhee, a member of Vault 33's governing council.
 * Leer Leary as Davey, a Vault 33 resident.
 * Elle Vertes as Rose MacLean, a former Vault 33 resident, and Lucy and Norm's mother.
 * Teagan Meredith as Janey Howard, Cooper's daughter in 2077.
 * Frances Turner as Barb Howard, Cooper's wife in 2077, and a high ranking Vault-Tec executive.

Development
Bethesda had been approached multiple times about a television adaptation of the Fallout video games since the developer released Fallout 3 in 2008, according to Bethesda's Todd Howard, though he felt none of the suggestions met the vision of the Fallout series. Bethesda's marketing executive Pete Hines had also cautioned the company in 2015 about the potential impact of a poor adaptation of their video games, saying, "There's way more things that can go wrong than can go right with this," since the adaptation's director may override the vision of the series. Hines pointed to the example of the 2005 Doom film as an example of a bad adaptation.

The situation changed when Jonathan Nolan approached Bethesda with his idea of a Fallout television series, having been an avid player of the game series. Howard, having seen what Nolan had created with the Westworld series, found that Nolan had a clear vision for the adaptation, and agreed this approach was a good way to bring the game series to the television screen. Bethesda gave Nolan freedom to craft a story as long as it remained true to the Fallout universe but served as its own unique story within the game series and not translate one of the existing games to television.

The television adaptation was formally announced in July 2020 under Amazon Studios (later renamed Amazon MGM Studios) with Nolan and Lisa Joy developing the work. Joy described the series as "a gonzo, crazy, funny, adventure, and mindfuck like none you've ever seen before".

In January 2022, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner were hired as showrunners for the series, with Nolan set to direct the pilot episode.

The series is canon within the Fallout continuity. Howard wanted an original story, instead of an adaptation of the games, though the series continues game storylines and factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel. The series' 2296 setting is the furthest in the future that the Fallout franchise has occurred. On April 18, 2024, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season, following the immense success of the first season's release. Season 1 of the show had a budget of $153 million.

Casting
In February 2022, Walton Goggins was cast in a lead role as Cooper Howard, a Hollywood actor who became a Ghoul after the bombs fell. In March 2022, Ella Purnell joined the cast as a peppy Vault-Dweller. In June 2022, Kyle MacLachlan (Hank MacLean), Xelia Mendes-Jones (Dane) and Aaron Moten (Maximus) joined as regulars.

In October 2023, additional casting including Sarita Choudhury (Moldaver), Michael Emerson (Dr. Siggi Wilzig), Leslie Uggams (Betty Pearson) and Zach Cherry (Woody Thomas) was announced.

Filming


Filming began on July 5, 2022, in New Jersey, New York and Utah. Wasteland scenes were additionally filmed in Kolmanskop, a former mining operation-turned-ghost town, as well as on Namibia's infamous Skeleton Coast. The desolate location is where desert sands meet the sea, where the western Namib Desert reaches Namibia's South Atlantic coastline. As a result of the treacherous seas offshore, the "skeleton" coast is dotted with both historic and recent shipwrecks; some scenes were filmed at the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen. Nolan directed the first three episodes of the series, with Stuart Dryburgh and Teodoro Maniaci as cinematographers.

Primary filming of the second season will occur in Los Angeles and Toronto, to take advantage of a $25 million tax incentive offered by California. Filming is scheduled to begin in September 2024.

Music
In January 2024, it was revealed that Ramin Djawadi had composed a score inspired by the works of Inon Zur's Fallout series compositions. Fallout also features a licensed soundtrack like the video game series.

The television series' first soundtrack was released by Amazon on April 8, 2024.

Post-production
Jay Worth was the production's visual effects supervisor, returning to work with director Jonathan Nolan and executive producer Lisa Joy following Person of Interest, Westworld, The Peripheral and Reminiscence. Grant Everett was the on-set visual effects supervisor who brought together a variety of visual effects studios for the environment, creatures, hard surface work and more. Framestore in Montreal took on the Yao Gui and Gulper creature work, RISE FX in Germany handled the Vertibird shots, Power Armor work and numerous environments, Swedish studio Important Looking Pirates took on the Cyclops overseer of Vault 4 and Snip-Snip. FutureWorks in India did the Ghoul nosework. Refuge, CoSA, Mavericks, One of Us, Studio 8 and Deep Water FX were also involved across the 3,300 visual effects shots of the season.

Release
Fallout was scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on April 12, 2024, but this date was later moved forward to be released on April 10, 2024, at 6 PM Pacific Time (GMT-8:00).

Viewership
According to Amazon, Fallout pulled in 65 million viewers in its first 16 days of availability. It was the second most-watched title in the history of the platform.

The adaptation's success on Amazon Prime Video has led to renewed commercial success of the Fallout video games, including the original game; according to Steam Charts, it experienced the highest percentage increase in player base at 160%.

Critical response
Fallout received positive reviews from critics and fans. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating based on 125 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "An adaptation that feels like a true extension of the games, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic blast for newcomers and longtime fans alike." Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and said, "The eight-episode season exists in a vivid and captivating universe that will be familiar to gamers—though knowledge of the franchise isn't required to enjoy its darkly comic dystopian pleasures." Reviewing the series for the San Francisco Chronicle, Zaki Hasan gave a rating of 3/4 and wrote, "With a raft of unfolding mysteries, protagonists we care about and a quest we want to see through to the end, Fallout is well situated to grow the loyal fan base that has kept the video game franchise going for 27 years."

Multiple fans and critics called Fallout one of the best video game adaptations of all time. Film and television adaptations of videogames as a whole have a bad reputation due to multiple high-profile failures (such as the aforementioned Doom film) throughout the years. In this regard, commentators have been comparing the Fallout TV series to The Last of Us, another successful adaptation.

In a YouTube video, Tim Cain praised the adaptation for matching the mood of the series and for its easter eggs and characters. He also defended the adaptation from accusations of contradicting the Fallout canon.