Fallout TV Series — Release Date, Cast And More Info

Video game adaptations are all the rage. Ever since "Castlevania" became a hit on Netflix, we've seen adaptations big and small achieve huge popularity and success. On television, there's "Arcane," and this year's "The Last of Us" shows that you actually can be faithful to the medium of video games while also adapting these stories for the screen. There is no stopping this train.

One of the most anticipated and exciting adaptations in the works now is the upcoming "Fallout" TV show, adapted from the popular video game franchise of the same name. "Fallout" is set in an atompunk retrofuturistic post-apocalypse, with the games being renowned for their world-building and visual storytelling. 

Where "The Last of Us" and other post-apocalyptic stories focus on the pain and misery that follows the end of civilization, "Fallout" has always been more than a bit tongue in cheek, with plenty of satire and sarcasm in the nuclear wasteland.

The TV adaptation has been in the works for a while, but we are now ever closer to its release. Information about it is slowly making its way to the public, including that the show will be in-canon for the games, and when we'll be able to see it.

When does Fallout premiere?

The "Fallout" TV show is set to debut on Amazon's Prime Video on April 12, 2024. This will be four years after the studio got the rights to produce a live-action show based on the "Fallout" games currently owned by Bethesda Softworks LLC.

We don't yet know how many episodes the first season of "Fallout" will comprise, or what the release schedule will be. That being said, Prime Video has been quite good at doing traditional, weekly releases for their shows. This gives audiences enough time to digest and discuss each episode, and to even catch up before the season's end if they didn't watch from the beginning. It also avoids letting the show fall through the cracks like so many do in the streaming era, becoming series that never find their audience because no one talks about them or even finds them upon their initial release.

What are the plot details of Fallout?

"Fallout" is not a direct adaptation of any of the games, but is still a canon story set in the same "Fallout" universe.

According to Vanity Fair, the show follows three protagonists across three storylines, all converging around "chasing an artifact that has the potential to radically change the power dynamic in this world," according to creator Jonathan Nolan. This could be the show's take on the Project Purity story from "Fallout 3," which involved a water purification plant that served as the site of the climax of that game.

We know that the show is set in Los Angeles 219 years after nuclear war breaks out across the planet in 2077, at a time when the whole of humanity was somehow deeply obsessed with 1940s America, resulting in a retro-futurist aesthetic. 

One of the three main storylines focuses on Lucy, a young woman who has lived all her life in one of the many subterranean vaults that housed the survivors of the nuclear apocalypse. When a crisis forces Lucy to venture outside her home, she finds the real world to be a much harsher and violent place than she could have imagined.

There's also the story of Maximus, a new squire for a knight of The Brotherhood of Steel in charge of a Power Armor suit. The Brotherhood of Steel are essentially a mix of Knights Templar and post-apocalyptic Marines.

And then there's The Ghoul, an enigmatic and horribly scarred bounty hunter from before the nuclear war who was transformed into an undead, noseless ghoul due to the nuclear fallout.

Who is the cast of Fallout?

The "Fallout" TV show stars Ella Purnell ("Yellowjackets," "Arcane") as Lucy, while Kyle MacLachlan ("Dune," "Twin Peaks") plays her father, the "overseer" of Vault 33. Aaron Moten ("Next") plays the squire Maxiumus, and Walton Goggins ("Justified") plays The Ghoul. 

Elsewhere, Moisés Arias ("Monos") is set to play Lucy's brother, Sarita Choudhury ("Homeland") will play a leader in the wasteland, and Michael Emerson ("Lost," "Evil") plays the enigmatic researcher Wilzig.

This is a rather exciting cast, and the ensemble of characters teases a story with an epic scope, showing how vast the world of "Fallout" is even after nuclear armageddon. 

Of course, out of the known members of the cast, the piece of casting that caused most chatter online is that of Walton Goggins as The Ghoul. Ghouls are a staple of the "Fallout" games, zombie-like mutants affected by hundreds of years' worth of radiation. While most ghouls you encounter are essentially just mindless zombies, there are entire settlements of intelligent — and darkly funny — mutants. That Goggins is not only one of the intelligent mutants, but a bounty hunter makes this a very exciting storyline.

Who is the crew of Fallout?

Although there is no list of directors for season one of "Fallout" just yet, we do know that filmmaker Jonathan Nolan ("Westworld," "Person of Interest") will be directing the first three episodes of the season. Nolan developed the show (together with Lisa Joy) and has proven to have a great eye for genre storytelling. Before "Fallout," Nolan worked on "Westworld," which had one of the best first seasons of television in years. Even before that, he helmed the spectacular and thrilling "Person of Interest," the best network TV procedural in at least 20 years — and also a rather good Batman show. 

Nolan is not just a proven storyteller when it comes to genre, but he also has a great eye for visuals. The two episodes of "Westworld" he directed look fantastic, and having him establish the look and feel of "Fallout" can be a good thing for the show.

Who are the writers and producers of Fallout?

Although there is no list of directors for season one of "Fallout" just yet, we do know that filmmaker Jonathan Nolan ("Westworld," "Person of Interest") will be directing the first three episodes of the season. Nolan developed the show with Lisa Joy, and has proven to have a great eye for genre storytelling. Before "Fallout," Nolan and Joy worked on "Westworld," which had one of the best first seasons of TV in years. Even before that, Nolan helmed the spectacular and thrilling "Person of Interest," the best network TV procedural in at least 20 years — and also a rather good Batman show. 

Nolan and Joy are also executive producing the show. Meanwhile, Todd Howard, who directed both "Fallout 3" and "Fallout 4" for Bethesda Softworks LLC, is executive producing the TV version of "Fallout."

We don't know the full list of names for the "Fallout" writers' room. We do know, however, that the room is being led by Geneva Robertson-Dworet (co-writer for "Captain Marvel") and Graham Wagner ("Portlandia," "Silicon Valley"), who are showrunning and acting as executive producers.