As video game franchises go, you don’t get much more iconic than Fallout. So, when Amazon MGM Studios announced a Fallout adaptation back in 2020, the news met with considerable excitement – and trepidation.
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After all, bad game-inspired movies and TV shows have long been the norm. True, this trend has gradually started to shift, and recent live-action video game reimaginings have ranged from the outstanding (HBO’s The Last of Us) to the serviceable (Paramount’s Sonic movies and Halo series). Even so, a Fallout series was by no means guaranteed to work.
But the good news is that Fallout Season 1 delivers the goods. Is it perfect? Not at all. But it is satisfying enough that even the most diehard devotee will want to venture out of their Vault in search of it.
Fallout Season 1 introduces us to Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a good-natured Vault-dweller forced to trek across the decidedly bad-natured Wasteland in search of a mysterious artifact. She’s not the only one on the artifact’s trail, either. Brotherhood of Steel squire Maximus (Aaron Moten) and mutant bounty hunter the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) are after it, too. And with good reason: whoever nabs the artifact will have the power to change Fallout‘s post-apocalyptic world – forever.
To say much more risks spoiling Fallout Season 1, but take it from me: this initial eight-episode run is unmistakably Fallout. Or at least, it’s about as close as you can get to translating the games’ open-world, sidequest-heavy structure into a streamlined TV show narrative. What’s more, showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner haven’t skimped on the hyper-violence and dark humor the Fallout franchise is known for. They don’t ration out the tie-ins to the canon, either.
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This isn’t like Halo, which frittered away two whole seasons before visiting its titular ringworld. Fallout Season 1 dives deep into the universe created by Black Isle Studios and Bethesda Game Studios, and it’s recognizably the same – almost to a fault. While Fallout isn’t a straight adaptation in the same vein as The Last of Us, it nevertheless recycles plot beats and dialogue from the games. Some of this is unavoidable (would it really be Fallout without a Vault-dweller venturing out into the big, bad Wasteland?). Still, predictability sets in as the show goes on. Fallout Season 1 literally starts with a bang, but – hype-worthy final shot notwithstanding – ends with more of a whimper.
However, this isn’t enough to derail Fallout‘s first season, which is unfailingly watchable. Heck, Season 1 is just plain good to look at, even at its most grisly. Amazon has clearly spent plenty of bottle caps on Fallout‘s first batch of episodes. You can tell from the finely detailed costumes, sprawling practical sets, and real-world locations. Robertson-Dworet, Wagner, and their production team inherited a killer aesthetic from the Fallout games and they make the most of it. Ropey CGI shots and unconvincing set extensions do happen (particularly in Episode 8), but only rarely.
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Fallout Season 1’s performances are even more consistent than its production values. Moten is effective as the hapless-yet-sincere Maximus, while Goggins is predictably perfect as both the Ghoul and his pre-apocalypse self, Cooper Howard. The strong bench of supporting and guest players – including Kyle MacLachlan, Sarita Choudhury, Chris Parnell, and Michael Emerson – bring plenty to the table, too. Season 1 ultimately belongs to Purnell, though. She’s perfectly cast as Lucy, selling the Vault dweller’s can-do spirit without coming across as either cloying or false.
That’s key, because Fallout Season 1 isn’t simply a story about the haves (Vault residents) and the have-nots (everybody else). It’s about navigating a world that’s not as black-and-white as you were raised to believe, and that is, in many ways, rigged. In that sense, the show does more than tap into the discourse around power and privilege – it approximates the Fallout games’ player-guided morality. Every time Lucy, Maximus, or even the Ghoul has to decide between optimism, pragmatism, or something in between, long-time fans will likely crack a knowing, “been there before” grin.
That’s rare in a video game adaptation and underscores just how faithfully Fallout Season 1 captures the essence of its source material. So, if you still have concerns going into the show, fret not: ironically, Fallout‘s one of the few video game adaptations that won’t blow up in your face.
Fallout Season 1 debuts on Prime Video on April 10, 2024.
