A new streaming show based on the massively popular video game franchise Fallout is on its way to Amazon Prime Video, with the two lead stars now confirmed.
The series adaptation was boldly announced amid the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic’s first wave, causing some fans to worry that it may have been quietly dropped on the long road back to normality.
Those fears were unfounded as the last month has seen some major updates on the status of Prime Video’s Fallout, including the casting of Ant-Man and the Wasp star Walton Goggins and Army of the Dead‘s Ella Purnell.
While video game adaptations have not been favoured by critics in the past, the Fallout streaming series has some promising talent behind the camera that could well make it a rare exception to the rule.
Jonathan Nolan is attached to executive produce the series and direct the first episode, having proven his sci-fi pedigree on HBO’s Westworld and mind-bending blockbuster Interstellar (a collaboration with his brother, Christopher).
For more details on Prime Video’s Fallout, read on.
Fallout TV show release date speculation
There’s no release date set for the Fallout television show just yet, but with major casting now underway, it looks as if the show could commence filming before the end of the year.
If so, it could be eyeing a launch date some time in 2023, most likely in the later half of the year given the extensive visual effects that will be required to bring this story to life.
Fallout TV show cast
The first main cast member to be announced for Prime Video’s Fallout was Walton Goggins, who audiences may remember from 2018 blockbuster Ant-Man and the Wasp, as well as hit US dramas Sons of Anarchy, Justified and The Shield.
According to Variety, he will play a character based on the video game’s chilling “ghouls” i.e. surviving humans who have developed a tolerance to extreme radiation, but at the price of being horrifyingly disfigured.
About a month later, news broke that Ella Purnell had joined the cast of Fallout, fresh off the back of post-apocalyptic zombie drama Army of the Dead and acclaimed video game adaptation Arcane: League of Legends. Sounds like she’ll fit right in!
A source told Variety of Purnell’s role: “Her character is… upbeat and uncannily direct with an all-American can-do spirit. But an intensity in her eyes says she might just be a tiny bit dangerous.”
Expect more announcements to be made about the Fallout cast in the coming weeks and months, as the series nears closer to principal photography.
Previously, Hellboy star Ron Perlman has expressed interest in reprising his role as narrator of the franchise in a prospective adaptation, but it remains to be seen if this will come to fruition.
What are the Fallout games?
Unless you’ve been living under a radioactive rock, you’ll know Fallout is a darkly comical game series set in a 1950s post-apocalyptic vision of the future.
The player must travel across a radioactive wasteland (formerly known as the United States of America) alongside other characters who survive by hiding in underground vaults.
This might sound unrelentingly bleak – and certainly the story does have some tough moments – but what sets Fallout apart is its unique sense of humour that provides sharp social commentary and homages to absurd B-movie fantasy.
Producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy said: “Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time. Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends.
“So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios.”
Fallout TV show plot theories
No plot details have been disclosed about Prime Video’s Fallout series just yet, but it’s likely the show will incorporate the general premise of the source material (even if it stops short of an entirely faithful adaptation).
The games begin following a terrible nuclear conflict in the year 2077, following escalating international tensions following China’s invasion of Alaska and the US annexing Canada.
The few remaining survivors of the so-called Resources War are forced to scavenge for scraps across a nuclear wasteland and take refuge in underground fallout shelters known as Vaults.
Is there a Fallout TV show trailer?
In July 2020, Bethesda and Prime Video released this brief teaser to announce the show was in active development, but there’s not yet any actual footage from the show to analyse.
Fallout is coming soon to Amazon Prime Video. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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