The retro-futuristic, sci-fi apocalypse idea has been done before, and now Walt Disney's futuristic visions meet the Fallout franchise. Fallout, the isometric RPGs, came out in the '90s from Interplay, then the rights were sold off to Zenimax and Bethesda Softworks. In 2008, the series was revived with "Fallout 3" and ever since, it has taken off to popularity not seen by most video games.
Now Amazon Prime Video has gotten a ragtag group to make the first live action "Fallout" adaptation, a TV show which begins airing on April 12, 2024, and comes from "Westworld" creators Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy (co-writer of "Captain Marvel,") Geneva Robertson-Dworet and showrunner Graham Wagner ("The Office," "Portlandia" and "Silicon Valley.")
It also stars a great ensemble cast of newcomers from hit shows and has a mix of veteran actors. The show features Ella Purnell from "Yellowjackets," Aaron Moten from "The Night Of," Kyle MacLachlan from "Twin Peaks," Sarita Choudhury from "Homeland," Moises Arias from "Hannah Montana," Michael Emerson from "Person of Interest" and Walton Goggins as a ghoul (he's in a million things, you know who he is the moment you see him).
But what is "Fallout" about? And could this possibly be as good as "The Last of Us" from HBO?
First look at the ‘FALLOUT’ series, starring Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan and Walton Goggins.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 28, 2023
Releasing April 12 on Prime Video.
(Source: https://t.co/WonAaFWZBB) pic.twitter.com/7pgPV1TDeK
In a nutshell, Fallout is a ridiculous blend of '30s and '40s era music, cars, history and sensibilities rocketed into the future where World War III has wiped out most of humanity. Everything is stuck in this faux retro-future look, and America has been bombed so badly by China with nuclear weapons that the terrain, animals and people are all mutated with radioactivity.
There are moral choices to be made, sob stories about life and death, sure, but also a lot of wacky humor and a particular tongue-in-cheek approach to every possible detail. As a gigantic Fallout fan myself, I remain cautiously optimistic about how this show will turn out. A few of my worries have already been squashed by the big Vanity Fair profile, which introduced the show and revealed the first images of it. Chief among them: who was behind the camera (IMHO the most important thing for any show or movie), does it look like Fallout (yes it does, to a tee) and will the tone be a perfect blend of goofy, silly, serious and schlocky (it appears to be so).
Not that series shepherd and creative director to the modern games Todd Howard's (of Bethesda Game Studios) final approval means anything, because it doesn't, but he's been rejecting pitches for years, waiting until the right idea and team came along.
The time apparently was now, and that team was the people who did the very successful "Westworld" show. And thankfully, they chose to not directly adapt the games (which would be a mistake) because, as they've put it: been there, done that!
I did not want to do an interpretation of an existing story we did. That was the other thing — a lot of pitches were, you know, 'This is the movie of 'Fallout 3'…' I was like, 'Yeah, we told that story.' I don't have a lot of interest seeing those translated. I was interested in someone telling a unique Fallout story. Treat it like a game. It gives the creators of the series their own playground to play in.
I really, REALLY want the Fallout TV series to be good. First official photos from the show are out at the link below. They've definitely got the look down! https://t.co/8TyKsC6fJU
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) November 28, 2023
At best, this could be as good as any video game adapation. At worst, it's a colossal failure. It will probably be somewhere in the middle, managing expectations accordingly, but it's hard to stop my critical and cynical side from creeping in when I read quotes like this about Vault Boy's origin story.
That was something that they came up with that’s just really smart.
Why? Who cares? Vault Boy is just a little mascot that shows up in the players Pip Boy, he doesn't need a backstory or explanation! This reminds me of the backlash to the Han Solo origin movie that shows how he got his last name. Like, what? Who thought that was a good idea? Why do these studios feel the need to retrace their steps and reveal how everything came to be? Especially when it's just a cartoon character not used to advance anything plot related.
Bethesda Confirms Fallout TV Show Is Canon In First Official Preview https://t.co/mJHP3wAH7f pic.twitter.com/KPcBzQGYLb
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) November 28, 2023
We will find out if this was a good or bad idea in April, when the show hits Amazon Prime Video. I have to keep my expectations in check, heavily, as "Fallout 3" and "New Vegas" are among my favorite games ever and the series is a big deal in my family. Not that it will tarnish the legacy or anything, the last two Fallout games already did a good job of that, but it would be nice to see filmmakers actually pull off good video game IP if that is indeed the only way to get big stories made now.
