Fallout is a top-rated video game franchise that came to Austin during SXSW 2024 to show fans what the post-apocalyptic world was like before the highly anticipated Original Series Fallout premiere. This two-day event gave attendees a “first look” at the series and an idea of what the video game adaptation might look like before viewing the upcoming episodes. Although I could not attend the “activation” event at the beginning of SXSW, I have now watched the first two episodes of Fallout ahead of the show’s official release to Prime Video on April 10, 2024.
Whether or not you have been a fan of the original Bethesda series (or have knowledge of it), but you are a Sci-Fi fan, there is plenty to enjoy from the first two episodes of Fallout, directed by executive producer Jonathan Nolan (Westworld). I left the IMAX theater where I viewed the two episodes, which left me wanting to know what is next for vault dweller Lucy Maclean (Ella Purnell, Yellowjackets) on her journey into the harsh outside wasteland society for the first time. Aside from the sci-fi genres, the series has drama, action, and adventure.
Synopsis: Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind—and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Fallout is an eight-episode series from writers Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. This story is 200 years post-apocalypse and follows a handful of characters from different walks of life. There is a bright and cheery scene of a child’s birthday set decades back, hosted by a wealthy family who lives high up on a hill with city views. Walter Goggins (“Justified” TV series, The Hateful Eight) stars as Cooper Howard, actor/entertainment for the families. Before the party ends, the audience sees what happens from afar and is heading toward them.
Fast forward years ahead, and the audience learns of vault dwellers (underground bunkers), first those from Vault 33. Here is where we meet Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), her father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), and brother Norm (Moises Arias), as well as the other dwellers. She is single, wants to marry, and proceeds with the process in place for dwellers. She knows this will be a massive step for her and other dwellers, but ultimately, the change of a union with Vault 32 does not become the positive one she once imagined for their world. The underground bunker dwellers know to protect themselves from radiation, mutants, and bandits. Lucy will do what she determines needs to be done despite the chaos.
The post-apocalyptic world of the video game is further introduced with the characters played by a talented cast, with Goggins in the role of The Ghoul and Maximus (Aaron Moten, Disjointed) as a member of the Brotherhood of Steel with fearsome creatures and wacky weapons from the game. Fallout also stars Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), Xelia Mendes-Jones (The Wheel of Time), Johnny Pemberton, and many more.
I look forward to learning in the upcoming/remaining episodes about Cooper Howard/The Ghoul and his badass character. Some folks may not want to view so much of the darkness of a post-apocalyptic world, but the cast performs wonderfully with the comedic elements found in the episodes. It is hard not to laugh when so much in place is gone, and humans find ways to survive, as seen through Pemberton, Zach Cherry, Jon Daly, Chris Parnell, and Matt Berry. The show has a good balance overall.
Watch Fallout, the Prime Video Original Series’ entire first season, as it premieres on April 10, 2024, on Amazon with a Prime subscription.
Source: Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, IMDb