The Fallout TV series has made a triumphant return to Prime Video, and it's fair to say that viewers were pleasantly surprised by the excellence of its initial run. By illustrating the retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic United States through the lenses of three distinct characters, it succeeded in capturing various facets of the player's journey.
There was vault-dweller Lucy, attempting to uphold her morals and learning that the wasteland made that incredibly hard; Max, the Brotherhood of Steel rookie, who starts challenging his faction's authority and causes significant chaos in mechanized battle suit; and Walton Goggins's character, a fan-favorite figure who has completely shed any sense of morality out in the contaminated wilderness.
The show's first season conclusion disclosed crucial details about the culprits behind the atomic conflict that trapped a population in underground vaults for centuries. It also posed plenty of questions open for the second season – and, now, hopes are significantly higher.
“We’ll take ‘pretty good’ – we should print that on merchandise,” quips the show's co-creator.
“Starting the initial season, people were like, ‘Just don't mess it up’,” states the game director. “We’re over the moon with the response to the show, so now people are arriving with more enthusiasm and new expectations.”
The upcoming season is taking place in New Vegas, the location of the beloved game Fallout: New Vegas, which is often praised for having the sharpest dialogue and personalities in the franchise, even if it was somewhat buggy at launch.
“It’s more of a sun-baked feel, a Mojave vibe, that’s so essential to that game,” explains the co-creator. “That parched, desolate iconic highway aesthetic of the game is so much enjoyable to translate into the show.”
In the show's timeline, a considerable period has elapsed since the events of the New Vegas game by the time the protagonists make their way there. Nevertheless, the creators suggest that it does reference the fan's adventure.
The Fallout TV series is distinguished by its physical authenticity – its makers ensured authentic items and sets were constructed, mirroring the cobbled-together nature of the towns in the games.
“As a sci-fi fan, so many series I watch, I’m conscious that they’re all filmed against a digital backdrop,” comments co-creator Geneva Robertson-Dworet. “The whole point of an adaptation, especially of a video game, is to feel like it’s authentic.”
In fact, pretty much each creature you see on-screen is physical, including the infamously terrifying irradiated monsters known as Deathclaws. In the show, they are brought to life with animatronics, and were by all accounts pretty frightening up close.
The Fallout series works because it is made by skilled directors who are also passionate gamers, in collaboration with the game developers behind the source material. This mutual respect for the world is clear in the finished show.
The second season is debuting on a episode-by-episode basis rather than as a full-season drop, marking a change from the previous season. This format will create a different viewing experience, a dynamic the creators themselves are eager to engage with.
“It has more depth, it’s bigger, it’s funnier, it has a lot of revelations,” teases Howard. “I can't wait to seeing what people think.”
