Some settings seem ripe for almost unlimited exploration, and one of them belongs to the Fallout games, starting with the first one in 1997, up through Fallout 76 in 2018. The Fallout series takes the bright image we had of the future in the 1940s and ’50s and imagines that it all came true–and then went horribly wrong. We had nuclear-powered cars, home assistant robots, and every convenience you could’ve ever imagined. Everything was clean and slickly designed.
And then, in 2077, nuclear war blew it all to hell. That’s where the players come in. Having lived in underground bunkers called Vaults, built by a company called Vault-Tec, these self-sustaining shelters became homes for countless potential survivors and were meant to work until the world was safe to inhabit again. Many of the vaults, however, were also used as experiments on their inhabitants, and others simply malfunctioned. Throughout the game series, players have left their vaults as early as the year 2102 and as late as 2287, emerging into the post-apocalyptic wasteland in pursuit of knowledge, supplies, and survival.
The game series has garnered a loyal fan base thanks to iconic art direction, memorable use of classic pre-war music, and wide-open worlds to explore full of quests, characters, and decisions. As the Vault Dweller, you can join the Brotherhood of Steel, hang out with Ghouls (heavily-irradiated, mutated humans), fight raiders, and run from Super Mutants and Deathclaws, while deciding how you want to save the world, helping people or using them, making allies and meeting companions.
With hundreds of years between the bomb drop and the events of Fallout 4, and the disparate settings of the New California Republic and the wastelands of the East coast, there’s a ton of space and time in which the show could be set. The series will probably not be based on a particular Fallout game, though there’s so much content to pull from that it’s sure to be filled with references and Easter eggs for fans of the games to watch for.
What’s the release date for the Fallout TV show?
Amazon has not yet announced a release date for the Prime Video Fallout series, though it’s safe to bet on the show debuting in late 2023 at the very earliest.
Who’s the director?
While the series has its showrunners, no episode directors have yet been confirmed, though executive producer Jonathan Nolan will reportedly direct the pilot episode. Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Portlandia) will act as showrunners. Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (Westworld) are developing the show, so it’s possible that they’ll helm some episodes, but nothing formal has been announced. Nolan and Joy are both executive producing, alongside Todd Howard, director of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls game series at Bethesda Game Studios.
Who is in the cast?
Casting information is still pretty limited since the show is relatively early in production, but the announced cast so far includes Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Aaron Moten, and Ella Purnell. Goggins is believed to be playing a ghoul in the show, one of the heavily irradiated, but still living humans that appear frequently throughout the Fallout games. Roles of other cast members have not yet been revealed.
What do we know about the story?
Plot details for the show are being kept under wraps at the moment. According to Variety, the series “is set in a world where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077.” In other words, we know that the show is pulling from the same fiction as the games. Based the first image released for the series above, we can bet that at least some of the main characters will be emerging from Vault 33.
Is there a trailer?
There is no trailer as of yet. Amazon has released an official image for the series. You can also get a vague peek at one of the show’s sets and a small piece of the series’ iconic power armor in a Fallout Retrospective video released this fall, which features Jonathan Nolan drinking a Nuka-Cola–the series’ in-fiction soda brand–handed to him by someone from offscreen.
How many episodes will Season 1 have?
We don’t know yet!
Will there be a second season?
Amazon has not yet announced whether there will be a Fallout Season 2; these announcements typically come closer to the show’s actual release date if the show is expected to do well, or sometime soon after if the show becomes a surprise hit.
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