Fallout TV Series Lands Yellowjackets Star Ella Purnell
Ella Purnell, star of "Yellowjackets," is set to join the cast of the upcoming Prime Video series "Fallout," based on the video game franchise, according to Deadline. If you're not familiar with the games, they're set in a version of our world in which the 1940s fears of nuclear war actually happened in 2077, forcing surviving humans into bunkers and leaving the surface world a radiation-flooded wasteland. I don't really want to think too much about that right now, so let's move on.
Purnell joins the previously announced cast member Walton Goggins ("Justified," "The Righteous Gemstones"), who was recently cast as one of the ghouls (people who have been exposed to radiation and have mutated) from the "Fallout" universe. No word on which particular ghoul he'll play, or if this is a new character. Purnell's role in the series hasn't been revealed but the site says that she is "believed to be playing the lead, referred to as Jean, a young woman with a can-do attitude who may be hiding a dangerous secret."
The "Fallout" video game franchise began back in 1997 and covers hundreds of years in a post-apocalyptic United States. Recent titles in the franchise include "Fallout 4" from 2015, "Fallout Pinball" in 2016, and "Fallout 76" from 2018. "Fallout 76" has several updated editions including "Wastelanders" that launched in April of 2020. The series is one the way from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's Kilter Films.
Welcome to the Wasteland
In Showtime's "Yellowjackets," Purnell played series regular Jackie. I haven't watched the show yet, but the reviews have put it very high up on my to-watch list.
In addition to "Yellowjackets," Purnell played Kate in Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead" for Netflix, which won the #OscarsFanFavorite award. She also played the teenage version of Maleficent in "Maleficent," and voices Gwyn in "Star Trek: Prodigy." Back in 2010 she played Young Ruth in "Never Let Me Go." It's a small role, but if you haven't seen that stunning and heartbreaking sci-fi film, it's absolutely worth your time.
Production on the "Fallout" series will begin later this year. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner will executive produce and serve as co-showrunners. Nolan and Lisa Joy are executive producing through Kilter Films, with Amazon Studios and Kilter Films producing in association with Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks.
Just throwing this out there: Lisa Joy wrote a wonderful graphic novel years ago named "Headache," about a young woman who is really the Goddess Athena. It's hard to find, but worth it if you can.