Fallout's Todd Howard praises 'authentic' TV adaptation

Fallout stars Ella Purnell and Kyle MacLachlan star in Fallout
Ella Purnell plays Vault Dweller Lucy in the Prime Video series. (Image credit: Fallout)

Fallout is coming to the small screen and Bethesda's executive producer has been full of praise for how the adaptation has been handled.

The Last of Us and Halo are two of the successful TV adaptations we've seen recently, and now the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game Fallout is getting its own series on Prime Video

It has been confirmed that Fallout is not directly based on any of the stories in the video game series, and is set in a new Vault with a new story, making it accessible to both long-time fans and newcomers.

Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan has teamed up with Bethesda Game Studios to bring the project to life, with all eight episodes streaming on Thursday, April 11. By the sounds of things, they have worked hard to make the series feel as authentic as possible.

Speaking in a press conference Bethesda lead Todd Howard said: "This is a creative endeavor, and having partners that you trust can really bring something new to it, to make it authentic to the world of Fallout. 

"Present that to the screen in a new way, but in an authentic way, you know it when you see it, and it's been a great, great collaboration, and everybody on this stage and what they've done. For someone  like me and the team here at Bethesda, it's just a real  blessing to see what they've done with it."

A Brotherhood of Steel paladin alongside a soldier

The Brotherhood of Steel plays a huge part in the Fallout universe. (Image credit: Prime Video)

Ahead of the trailer's release, Todd added: "The trick with Fallout is it has so many different tones. It goes between the serious, the dramatic, and action, and some humor and nostalgic music and dramatic music.

"I think the trailer shows what the show does really well, which is it weaves those different things together in a very unique blend that only Fallout can."

Series creators have confirmed it will focus on three main protagonists; Vault Dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell), Brotherhood of Steel paladin Maximus (Aaron Moten), and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), three characters from very different walks of life who are trying to navigate this priveleged world.

Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet said: "Well, I think it's not just the incredible tone,  which is, as people have talked about, this unbelievable blend of action and comedy and just weirdness.

"But I think it's these incredibly prescient themes, factionalism, being maybe the most obvious. When you play the game Fallout, you go from settlement to settlement or from faction to faction. And that was something that we were really excited to manifest with our heroes. 

"Ella being the Vault Dweller, Aaron being the Brotherhood of Steel member, and Walton being sort of the character that nobody really cares about, the ghouls in the wasteland. But in a way that makes them the most empathetic."

Fallout arrives on Prime Video on Thursday, April 11 where all eight episodes will be available.

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress