Fallout: Todd Howard Confirms Series Will Be New Story, Same Universe

For fans awaiting news of any kind on EPs Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, Amazon Studios & Kilter Films’ (with Bethesda Game Studios & Bethesda Softworks) Fallout series, October was a pretty good month, what with the release of a behind-the-scenes featurette offering some early looks at the adaptation. Less than a month later, we’re getting an update from none other than Bethesda Game Studios’ renowned video game designer, Todd Howard. Checking in with Lex Fridman‘s podcast, Howard had some interesting things to share about previous pitches to adapt the popular video game franchise, as well as what viewers can expect story-wise from the series.

When it comes to previous attempts to bring the video game franchise’s story to live-action life, Howard explained how most of the approaches focused on adapting what already existed. And that just wasn’t a direction that excited him. “When people wanted to make a movie, they wanted to tell the story of ‘Fallout 3’ or tell the story of ‘Fallout 4,’ and it was meh,” Howard shared. When it came to Nolan & Joy’s approach, it was more about universe-building than redoing what’s been done, with Howard adding, “For this [Amazon series], it was, ‘Hey, let’s do something that exists within the world of Fallout.'” The legendary game designer elaborated on what he was looking for, continuing, “It’s not retelling a game story. It’s basically an area of the map. Let’s tell a story here that fits in the world that we have built, doesn’t break any of the rules, can reference things in the games, but isn’t a retelling of the games.” He elaborated, “[It] exists in the same world but is its own unique thing, so it adds to it. While also, people who haven’t played the games, who can’t experience how crazy cool Fallout is, can watch the series.”

And here’s your chance to check out Fridman’s podcast in its entirety:

In “Beyond the Game: Fallout,” a number of familiar faces discuss how the video game felt like it was meant to be adapted but took a long journey to get to where it is now. But make sure to check out a few moments with series director Nolan toward the end, with a look at one of the set locations in the background and a couple of easter eggs along the way:

And here’s a look back at the previously-released teaser confirming the series was in development:

With Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) & Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) on board as co-showrunners and Nolan on board to direct the Fallout pilot, viewers can look forward to seeing Walton Goggins (aka Ghoul), Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Aaron Moten. Nolan and Joy will executive produce alongside Athena Wickham for Kilter Films, Todd Howard for Bethesda Game Studios, and James Altman for Bethesda Softworks.

The franchise’s origin dates back to 1997 and is set in a world in which the future that we sew coming in the 1940s collides with the nuclear war realities of 2077, with Joy and Nolan looking to reflect “the harshness of the wasteland set against the previous generation’s utopian ideal of a better world through nuclear energy” by maintaining the games “harsh tone” while making sure it’s still “sprinkled with moments of ironic humor and B-movie-nuclear-fantasies” that game players expect.

Having “just spent the summer filming the first two episodes of their adaptation,” Nolan and Joy were tight-lipped when it came to when the series would take place and how much backstory we would see during an interview with Variety. That said, they sound psyched by what they’ve seen… and they think others will, too. Nolan added, “Can’t talk about “Fallout” just yet except to say that we’re very, very excited. And we think the fans of the game will be very excited, too.”