Fallout (American TV series) — BrandWiki

Fallout (American TV series)

based on	Fallout by Bethesda Softworks
starring	Ella Purnell Aaron Moten Kyle MacLachlan Moisés Arias Xelia Mendes-Jones Walton Goggins Frances Turner
composer	Ramin Djawadi
country	United States
language	English
num seasons	2
num episodes	16
producer	Crystal Whelan Halle Phillips Gursimran Sandhu Jake Bender Zach Dunn
editor	Ali Comperchio Yoni Reiss Micah Gardner Daniel Raj Koobir
cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh Teodoro Maniaci Alejandro Martinez Dan Stoloff Jonathan Freeman John Conroy
runtime	45–74 minutes
company	Kilter Films Big Indie Pictures Bethesda Game Studios Amazon MGM Studios
network	Amazon Prime Video
first aired	April 10, 2024
last aired	present

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 is set two centuries after the Great War of 2077, in which society has collapsed following a nuclear holocaust. It stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Walton Goggins, and Frances Turner.

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. It received generally positive reviews, with praise for the performances (particularly of Purnell, Moten, and Goggins), writing, visuals, production design, and faithfulness to the source material. That month, the series was renewed for a

Cast and characters

Main

Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, a Vault 33 Dweller
Luciana VanDette (guest season 1) and Grace Kelly Quigley (guest season 2) portray young Lucy MacLean
Aaron Moten as Maximus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel and later ally of Lucy
Amir Carr portrays young Maximus (guest seasons 1–2)
Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, Lucy and Norm's father and Overseer of Vault 33
Moisés Arias as Norm MacLean, Vault 33 resident and Lucy's younger brother
Cody Alexander Guevara portrays young Norm MacLean (guest season 2)
Xelia Mendes-Jones as Dane (season 1; recurring season 2), a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel
Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard / The Ghoul, a Hollywood actor and Vault-Tec ambassador before the Great War, who mutated into a ghoul and is now a gunslinger and bounty hunter
Frances Turner as Barb Howard (season 2; recurring season 1), Cooper's wife and high-ranking Vault-Tec executive

Recurring

Sarita Choudhury as Kate Williams / Lee Moldaver (season 1; guest season 2), a nuclear scientist who survived the Great War and later became a New California Republic (NCR) commander
Leslie Uggams as Betty Pearson, Vault 33 councillor and later Overseer
Princess Bey portrays young Betty Pearson (guest seasons 1–2)
Johnny Pemberton as Thaddeus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel
Zach Cherry as Woody Thomas (season 1; guest season 2), Vault 33 councillor
Annabel O'Hagan as Stephanie Harper, pregnant Vault 33 resident. In the second season, she becomes the overseer of Vault 32.
Dave Register as Chet, Lucy and Norm's cousin and Vault 33 gatekeeper
Rodrigo Luzzi as Reg McPhee, Vault 33 councillor
Leer Leary as Davey, Vault 33 resident
Elle Vertes as Rose MacLean (season 1), Lucy and Norm's mother
Teagan Meredith as Janey Howard (season 1; guest season 2), Cooper's daughter
Michael Cristofer as Elder Cleric Quintus (season 2; guest season 1), Maximus' superior and leader of the Brotherhood of Steel's San Fernando chapter

Guest

Introduced in season 1
Mykelti Williamson as Honcho, a bounty hunter who revives Cooper from imprisonment
Matt Berry as:
"Mr. Handy", a General Atomics helper bot in 2077
"Snip Snip", a Mr. Handy turned organ harvester
Sebastian Leslie, an English actor who provided the voice of the Handys, and Cooper's pre-apocalypse friend
Cameron Cowperthwaite as Monty, a raider who "married" Lucy as part of a ruse to kidnap Hank
Jacinto Taras Riddick as Cleric Felix, high-ranking member of the Brotherhood of Steel
Joel Marsh Garland and Jacob A. Ware as Biggie and Slim, Honcho's minions
Mike Doyle and Janie Brookshire as Bob Spencer and Rhonda Spencer, Cooper's pre-apocalypse employers for their child's birthday party
Michael Emerson as Dr. Siggi Wilzig (seasons 1–2), an enigmatic defector from the Enclave whose head carries the solution to Cold Fusion
Michael Rapaport as Knight Titus, whom Maximus initially serves and later impersonates

Production

Development

Bethesda had been approached several 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.[6] Bethesda's marketing executive Pete Hines had also warned 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.[7]

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.[6][8] Bethesda gave Nolan the freedom to craft a story as long as it remained true to the Fallout universe but served as its unique narrative within the game series and not translate one of the existing games to television.[8]

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.[9] Joy described the series as "a gonzo, crazy, funny, adventure, and mindfuck like none you've ever seen before".[10] In January 2022, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner were hired as show runners for the series, with Nolan set to direct the pilot episode.[11] The series is canon within the Fallout continuity. Howard wanted an original story instead of an adaptation of the games,[12] though the series incorporates 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.[13] On April 18, 2024, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season.[14]

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.[17][18] In March 2022, Ella Purnell joined the cast as a peppy Vault-Dweller.[19] In June 2022, Kyle MacLachlan (Hank MacLean), Xelia Mendes-Jones (Dane) and Aaron Moten (Maximus) joined as regulars.[20] 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.[21]

In November 2024, Macaulay Culkin joined the cast for the second season in an undisclosed role.[22]

Filming

Principal photography began on July 5, 2022, in New Jersey, New York and Utah,[23] and was shot on 35mm film.[24] 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;[25] some scenes were filmed at the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen.[26] Historic Wendover Airfield in Wendover, Utah served as the filming location of the initial Brotherhood of Steel base. This location has a unique atomic history connection as it is the airfield where the

Music

Ramin Djawadi composed a score inspired by the works of Inon Zur's Fallout series compositions.[35] Fallout also features a licensed soundtrack similar to the video game series, including The Ink Spots and The Mills Brothers.[36][37]

The first-season soundtrack was released by Amazon on April 8, 2024.[38]

Post-production

Jay Worth was the production's visual effects supervisor,[39] 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 Guai 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.[40] 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.[41]

Reception

Viewership

According to Amazon, Fallout pulled in 65 million viewers in its first 16 days of availability, and was the second most-watched title in the history of the platform after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in 2022.[49] As of October 2024, the series has surpassed 100 million viewers.[50]

Next TV also reported that, based on viewership estimates sourced from research firm PlumResearch, Fallout delivered the largest premiere audience for any series released on Prime Video to date.[51]

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%.[52]

Critical response

Fallout has an average approval rating of 94% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes [53] and a weighted average score of 73/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[54]

Season 1

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating based on 133 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's 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."[55] Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 33 critics.[56]

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."[57] 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."[58]

Multiple critics called Fallout one of the best video game adaptations of all time.

Season 1

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating based on 133 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's 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."[55] Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 33 critics.[56]

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."[57] 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."[58]

Multiple critics called Fallout one of the best video game adaptations of all time.[59]

Season 2

The second season has a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 96% based on 125 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Fallout Season Two successfully expands its post-apocalyptic world to deliver everything audiences could want from a video game adaptation, including sumptuous visuals and riveting performances."[66] Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.[67]

Awards and nominations