🔗 Share this article

The Fallout TV series has come back to streaming services, and it's fair to say that fans were pleasantly surprised by the quality of its initial run. By portraying the retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic United States through the perspectives of three separate characters, it managed to capture different facets of the gamer's adventure.

We followed vault-dweller Lucy, trying to uphold her morals and discovering that the barren landscape made that exceptionally challenging; Max, the Brotherhood of Steel initiate, who begins to question his organization's dogma and creates significant chaos in mechanized battle suit; and the Ghoul, a standout performance who has long since lost any moral compass out in the radioactive badlands.

Building Anticipation for Season Two

The show's first season conclusion disclosed key information about those responsible for the nuclear war that trapped a society in underground vaults for hundreds of years. It also raised plenty of questions unresolved for the upcoming chapter – and, this time, anticipations are considerably elevated.

“We’ll take ‘not terrible’ – we should print that on merchandise,” quips one of the series creators.

“Heading into the first season, people were like, ‘Just don't mess it up’,” states a key figure from the games. “We are thrilled with the response to the show, so this time people are arriving with more eagerness and new expectations.”

The Mojave Beckons for the Next Installment

The new season is taking place in New Vegas, the location of the 2010’s game Fallout: New Vegas, which is often praised for having the best writing and personalities in the franchise, even if it was somewhat buggy at launch.

“It embodies a arid atmosphere, a Mojave vibe, that’s so integral to that game,” notes the co-creator. “That dusty, desolate iconic highway feeling of the game is so much fun to bring into the show.”

In the show's timeline, a significant amount of time has passed since the story of the New Vegas game by the time the protagonists arrive there. Yet, the creators hint that it does reference the gamer's experience.

The Importance of Physical Sets

The Fallout TV series is praised for its tactile feel – its makers ensured physical models and environments were fabricated, echoing the cobbled-together nature of the towns in the games.

“As a sci-fi fan, so many shows I watch, I’m aware that they’re all filmed against a green screen,” observes co-creator Geneva Robertson-Dworet. “The key objective of an adaptation, especially of a interactive medium, is to seem like it’s tangible.”

In fact, pretty much every element you see on-screen is real, even the notoriously frightening radioactive creatures known as the apex predators. In the show, they are brought to life with puppets, and were by all accounts quite terrifying up close.

A Labor of Love

The Fallout series succeeds because it is developed by skilled directors who are also passionate gamers, alongside the visionaries behind the video games. This mutual respect for the lore is apparent in the end result.

The second season is launching on a weekly basis rather than as a all-at-once release, marking a change from the initial release. This schedule will foster a altered weekly discussion, a dynamic the creators themselves are looking forward to witness.

“It's richer, it’s larger in scale, it’s more humorous, it has a lot of twists,” says Howard. “I am excited to seeing what people think.”