Fallout: 6 lesser-known facts about Prime Video’s acclaimed video-game adaptation

Amazon Prime Video’s attempts to release a compelling video game adaptation like Netflix’s Arcane and HBO’s The Last of Us, have been successful with the release of Fallout. The post-apocalyptic series set in a retro-futuristic alternate history Earth has garnered immense praise from critics. It offers a gripping narrative, wrapped in humour, violence, gore, and thought-provoking socio-political themes.

For today’s Now You Know podcast, we take a look at some of the  lesser-known facts about the Fallout TV series.

1. The Fallout series exists in the same continuity as the video game franchise. However, it features an original story, focusing on the ‘Vault Dwellers’ of Vault 33 of the post-apocalyptic world. The creators and producers decided not to directly adapt any of the popular stories of the video games, in favour of expanding on the lore of the franchise.
2. One of the most recognisable aspects of the franchise is the animated image of the Vault Boy, which features a cheerful young man holding the thumbs up sign. A backstory of the Vault Boy imagery is explored in the new series through Walton Goggins’s character Cooper Howard.
3. Fans of Bruce Willis’s hit 1989 film Die Hard will recognise the name of the TV show’s protagonist Lucy MacLean, played by British actress Ella Purnell. The character’s name is similar to Bruce Willis's daughter in the film, Lucy McClane, albeit with a minor change to the spelling – possibly a homage to the film.
4. Lead star Ella Purnell is no stranger to playing one of the leads in a critically acclaimed video game adaptation. Purnell voiced the role of Jinx in Netflix's highly-rated animated series Arcane, which is an adaptation of the iconic game League of Legends.
5. One of the most pivotal factions in the Fallout franchise is the Brotherhood of Steel, descendants of the American military who go to extreme lengths to preserve pre-apocalyptic technology. The Brotherhood have an army of super soldiers called Knights who wear retro-futuristic robot armour. And just like the medieval knights, these knights also have squires who accompany them on missions. The large pack of resources that the Squires carry for the Knights in the Fallout TV show is a humorous reference to the games, where carrying an excessive amount of items can hinder your character’s progress. But did you also know that these giant armours are not CGI-created for the series? They are built from scratch for the production and there is a person inside the armour maneuvering it during filming. Lead star Ella Purnell confirmed this during an interview with late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon.
6. HBO’s The Last of Us is arguably the first live-action video game adaptation to garner universal acclaim. The success of the series has been partly attributed to the fact that the lead director of the game, Neil Druckman, serves as the show’s creator alongside Craig Mazin. While the creative team behind the Fallout games do not serve as showrunners or creators alongside Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard is an executive producer for the show, overseeing the creative process.

Well that's the Now You Know episode for today, until the next one it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Ryan Gomez