The ever-popular Fallout franchise has gone through several phases. Its early days are still celebrated as high watermarks of video game storytelling. Modern incarnations are best-selling blockbuster titles. Each title brings several genres to life in post-apocalyptic America. There are jokes, action beats, and horrific monsters at every turn. The upcoming TV adaptation is pitched as a drama. Its best course of action might be to focus on the terror of life in the wasteland.
Fallout is coming to Amazon Prime Video with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan at the helm. They're best known as a duo for their work on HBO's Westworld. Joy and Nolan will be the head writers as well as the developers of the series. Nolan has used the term "gonzo" to describe his take on the franchise, raising interesting questions. Fans should hope the show is exceptionally abnormal.
Fallout is filled with terrifying creatures and environments
One of the most intriguing currently available details about the upcoming Fallout series is that Walton Goggins, the highest-billed performer in the cast, will be portraying a Ghoul. For the uninitiated, Ghouls are humans altered by nuclear radiation. They were the unfortunate souls caught outside when the bombs fell. They look like zombies, but many of them still maintain human-level intelligence. Ghouls enjoy prolonged lifespans and may be immortal. Their radiation exposure caused widespread necrosis, but it also left them immune to similar danger. Ghouls can be briefly empowered through nuclear materials. While many go feral, becoming garden-variety zombies, the lion's share live among human settlements. Ghouls remain an iconic part of the franchise, but they're typically not allowed to be the main character. Obsidian considered making them playable in New Vegas, but the engine didn't allow it. Putting a Ghoul in the lead role changes things significantly.
Ghouls are unpleasant to look at but often harmless. The other creatures throughout the wasteland tend to be less polite. The iconic deathclaws are towering carnivores designed by the United States military to replace human soldiers. These reptilian beasts terrorize all life that crosses their path. The mighty Super Mutants and Centaur were genetically altered by a mad scientist through a nightmarish virus. Radiation took its toll on everything from wolves to scorpions, transforming the most banal animals into deadly abominations. These monsters haunt the countless abandoned structures and dangerous ruins that decorate the blasted wasteland. There's something inherently unpleasant about a place designed to hold crowds lie empty. These elements primarily serve as combat settings and opponents. In the upcoming series, every piece of the wasteland can be horrifying.
Amazon's Fallout series should embrace the game's horror
Adapting a video game into a TV series is always challenging. The lack of interactivity makes some elements that worked in the games fail in the show. This could be the downfall of the Fallout show. The action in Fallout is fun to engage with as a player, but it isn't nearly as fun to watch. There are only so many shootouts between dirty, desperate survivors a viewer can take. It's like Mad Max without the vehicles, which are the main element of that franchise's action set pieces. A film adaptation of Skyrim, for example, would feature all the sword and sorcery one could ask for. Fallout could definitely support some strong shootouts, sci-fi weaponry, and the occasional monster fight, but those could quickly become boring. Instead of trying to stay afloat on laser rifles and Power Armor, the show might have an easier time selling itself as a horror drama.
Taking the wasteland from the perspective of a single Ghoul, every aspect is either depressing or horrific, with occasional breaks for uplifting peace. Massive stretches of land would be decorated by little more than gore and refuse. Empty playgrounds and discarded school buses would remind a wanderer of what was once innocent and hopeful. Even the Ghoul's own flesh would be a constant memento of the day everything ended. There's a Last of Us-style horror drama in every aspect of the story. Taking the camera away from the omnicompetent hands of the player changes everything. Players are used to seeing the wasteland from the point of view of its savior. Viewers of the series should learn to love it as an ant crawling over its corpse.
Fallout is a multifaceted franchise that could tell countless stories. Video games easily capture all of those varying tones, but an adaptation is expected to capture the source material's spirit. The best-case scenario for the Fallout show is a bizarre post-apocalyptic epic that compels laughter and screams from its audience. Fans have a lot to look forward to, but there's a lot of room for error in this particular adaptation. Fallout could be a solid new TV series in the vein of The Last of Us if they're willing to deviate from the source material and lean into a new tone.