We live in a time right now when video game adaptations are honestly anticipated in a good way. After serious successes on both the movie and TV fronts, people know that Hollywood CAN make a good adaptation; it’s just the question of “Will they?” In the case of the upcoming Fallout TV Series, the team behind it has been working hard for a long time to deliver the “Wasteland” that many are expecting, the characters and factions that are desired, and the feel of a world that has been turned to ask by humans. The team is so confident that they feel this entity is pretty much the 5th mainline game in the franchise!
In a chat with Total Film, Executive Producer Jonathan Nolan made it clear that this wasn’t just a “retelling” of something that Bethesda or others have done with the mainline titles. Instead, it was something unique, just like each game told its own unique vision of its dark future:
“Each of the games is a discrete story – different city, distinct protagonist – within the same mythology. Our series sits in relation to the games as the games sit in relation to each other. It’s almost like we’re Fallout 5. I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but it’s just a non-interactive version of it, right?”
He further likened the title to Batman, as that character has been interpreted and represented in various ways depending on the TV/movie/game property, and they’re all “canon” to one another in their own ways because they are depicting The Dark Knight through different lenses. That’s not inaccurate here, and it makes it clear that the Fallout TV Series will maintain what makes the games great while telling their own story within the world.
As we noted before, video game adaptations are in a “good place” right now, and others on the team are more than aware of the pressures put upon his upcoming series thanks to those successes:
“Now there’s an expectation of: ‘No, they can actually be great. I watched some good ones,'” noted co-showrunner Graham Wagner. “In a perverse way, I wish there was more snobbery so that we could have been the first!”
The timing didn’t allow that, but it will allow this team’s adaptation to hopefully help continue the trend that’s been built up. Given the sci-fi influences, this could come down to visuals and how everything is explained within the world. The team also stated that they’ve only “scratched the surface” of what they could do in this space. So, if Season 1 goes well? They’re ready to go for Season 2.
The show arrives on April 12th on Amazon Prime Video.
