Fallout season 1


The first season of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series Fallout premiered on April 10, 2024, with all eight episodes being released in a single day on Amazon Prime Video. Based on the role-playing video game franchise created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the series is set two centuries after the Great War of 2077, in which society has collapsed following a nuclear holocaust. The season stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins.
Fallout received generally positive reviews, with praise for the performances, writing, visuals, production design, and faithfulness to the source material. It was also nominated for 17 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Goggins.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, a Vault 33 Dweller
  • * Luciana VanDette portrays young Lucy MacLean
  • Aaron Moten as Maximus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel and later ally of Lucy
  • * Amir Carr portrays young Maximus
  • Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, Lucy and Norm's father and Overseer of Vault 33
  • Moisés Arias as Norm MacLean, Vault 33 resident and Lucy's younger brother
  • Xelia Mendes-Jones as Dane, a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel
  • Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard / The Ghoul, a Hollywood actor and Vault-Tec ambassador before the Great War, who mutated into a ghoul and is now a gunslinger and bounty hunter

    Recurring

  • Sarita Choudhury as Kate Williams / Lee Moldaver, a nuclear scientist who survived the Great War and later became a New California Republic commander
  • Leslie Uggams as Betty Pearson, Vault 33 councillor and later Overseer
  • * Princess Bey portrays young Betty Pearson
  • Johnny Pemberton as Thaddeus, a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel
  • Zach Cherry as Woody Thomas, Vault 33 councillor
  • Annabel O'Hagan as Stephanie Harper, pregnant Vault 33 resident
  • Dave Register as Chet, Lucy and Norm's cousin and Vault 33 gatekeeper
  • Rodrigo Luzzi as Reg McPhee, Vault 33 councillor
  • Leer Leary as Davey, Vault 33 resident
  • Elle Vertes as Rose MacLean, Lucy and Norm's mother
  • Teagan Meredith as Janey Howard, Cooper's daughter
  • Frances Turner as Barb Howard, Cooper's wife and high-ranking Vault-Tec executive

    Guest

Episodes

Production

Development

Bethesda had been approached several times about a television adaptation of the Fallout video games since the developer released Fallout 3 in 2008, according to Bethesda's Todd Howard, though he felt none of the suggestions met the vision of the Fallout series. Bethesda's marketing executive Pete Hines had also warned the company in 2015 about the potential impact of a poor adaptation of their video games, saying, "There's way more things that can go wrong than can go right with this," since the adaptation's director may override the vision of the series. Hines pointed to the example of the 2005 Doom film as an example of a bad adaptation.
The situation changed when Jonathan Nolan approached Bethesda with his idea of a Fallout television series, having been an avid player of the game series. Howard, having seen what Nolan had created with the Westworld series, found that Nolan had a clear vision for the adaptation, and agreed this approach was a good way to bring the game series to the television screen. Bethesda gave Nolan the freedom to craft a story as long as it remained true to the Fallout universe but served as its unique narrative within the game series and not translate one of the existing games to television.
The television adaptation was formally announced in July 2020 under Amazon Studios with Nolan and Lisa Joy developing the work. Joy described the series as "a gonzo, crazy, funny, adventure, and mindfuck like none you've ever seen before".
In January 2022, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner were hired as show runners for the series, with Nolan set to direct the pilot episode.
The series is canon within the Fallout continuity. Howard wanted an original story instead of an adaptation of the games, though the series incorporates game storylines and factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel. The series' 2296 setting is the furthest in the future that the Fallout franchise has occurred. On April 18, 2024, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season. The first season had a budget of $153 million.

Casting

In February 2022, Walton Goggins was cast in a lead role as Cooper Howard, a Hollywood actor who became a Ghoul after the bombs fell. In March 2022, Ella Purnell joined the cast as a peppy Vault-Dweller. In June 2022, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones and Aaron Moten joined as regulars.
In October 2023, additional casting including Sarita Choudhury, Michael Emerson, Leslie Uggams and Zach Cherry was announced.

Filming

began on July 5, 2022, in New Jersey, New York and Utah, and was shot on 35mm film. Wasteland scenes were additionally filmed in Kolmanskop, a former mining operation-turned-ghost town, as well as on Namibia's infamous Skeleton Coast. The desolate location is where desert sands meet the sea, where the western Namib Desert reaches Namibia's South Atlantic coastline. As a result of the treacherous seas offshore, the "skeleton" coast is dotted with both historic and recent shipwrecks; some scenes were filmed at the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen. Nolan directed the first three episodes of the series, with Stuart Dryburgh and Teodoro Maniaci as cinematographers.

Music

composed a score inspired by the works of Inon Zur's Fallout series compositions. Fallout also features a licensed soundtrack like the video game series.
The television series' first soundtrack was released by Amazon on April 8, 2024.

Post-production

Jay Worth was the production's visual effects supervisor, returning to work with director Jonathan Nolan and executive producer Lisa Joy following Person of Interest, Westworld, The Peripheral and Reminiscence. Grant Everett was the on-set visual effects supervisor who brought together a variety of visual effects studios for the environment, creatures, hard surface work and more. Framestore in Montreal took on the Yao Guai and Gulper creature work, RISE FX in Germany handled the Vertibird shots, Power Armor work and numerous environments, Swedish studio Important Looking Pirates took on the Cyclops overseer of Vault 4 and Snip-Snip. FutureWorks in India did the Ghoul nosework. Refuge, CoSA, Mavericks, One of Us, Studio 8 and Deep Water FX were also involved across the 3,300 visual effects shots of the season.

Release

Streaming

Fallout was scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on April 12, 2024, but this date was later moved forward to be released on April 10, 2024, at 6 PM Pacific Time.

Home media

The first season of Fallout was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on July 8, 2025. A limited edition Ultra HD Blu-Ray steelbook will be available exclusively through Amazon's website and will come with six collectible art cards.

Reception

Viewership

According to Amazon, Fallout pulled in 65 million viewers in its first 16 days of availability, and was the second most-watched title in the history of the platform after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in 2022. As of October 2024, the series has surpassed 100 million viewers.
The adaptation's success on Amazon Prime Video has led to renewed commercial success of the Fallout video games, including the original game; according to Steam Charts, it experienced the highest percentage increase in player base at 160%.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating based on 133 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "An adaptation that feels like a true extension of the games, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic blast for newcomers and longtime fans alike." Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and said, "The eight-episode season exists in a vivid and captivating universe that will be familiar to gamers—though knowledge of the franchise isn't required to enjoy its darkly comic dystopian pleasures." Reviewing the series for the San Francisco Chronicle, Zaki Hasan gave a rating of 3/4 and wrote, "With a raft of unfolding mysteries, protagonists we care about and a quest we want to see through to the end, Fallout is well situated to grow the loyal fan base that has kept the video game franchise going for 27 years."
Multiple critics called Fallout one of the best video game adaptations of all time. Film and television adaptations of video games as a whole have garnered a negative reputation due to multiple high-profile failures. In this regard, commentators have compared Fallout to The Last of Us, another well-received video game adaptation for television. In a YouTube video, Tim Cain, the creator of Fallout, praised the adaptation for matching the mood of the series and for its easter eggs and characters. He also defended the adaptation from accusations of contradicting the Fallout canon.