Bethesda’s Fallout franchise has entered the chat among the other successful game franchises turned into TV adaptations. The success of the live-action adaptation of Fallout still has people talking and discovering more details to discuss nearly two months later.
With its compelling story filled with an array of emotions, it’s no wonder why it instantly became a success. The director, writers, and cast did their homework when they started working on the show.
Rather than retelling the original story, Fallout opted to establish a new and unique story focusing on Lucy Maclean, the Ghoul, and Maximus in the year 2296. Although it is pushed into uncharted territory, which upset Fallout’s original fanbase, this idea obviously drew current, former, and new fans to the show.
Fallout: Great Writing Conquers All
Every writer knows that the best way to create a successful piece is by fully immersing oneself in the subject material and conducting the best research possible. The same goes for directing and creating interesting stories within a TV show or a game. Director Jonathan Nolan and his team did their homework to successfully create one of the best adaptations of a video game since HBO’s The Last of Us came out in 2023.
Fallout’s compelling story had something for everyone, especially those who enjoy the post-apocalyptic genre. However, instead of only focusing on the dramatic and gory moments, the show and the game included a lot of silly scenes, too. The game franchise wasn’t afraid to tell a story with a range of different tones, and that’s what caught Nolan’s attention and why he chose to create a show about it.
Attention to Detail: If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Although Fallout opted to create a new storyline in the TV show, it does not mean they scrapped everything the game series had to offer its video game fans. The show is loaded with a lot of details from the video games. Every rewatch will have the viewer discovering more and more details, ensuring the hype of the show will not die down.
Every object, location, and even the sound effects shown in the TV show were taken straight from the games. Although Lucy is not from any of the games, her mission to rescue her father (Hank), the Overseer of their vault (vault 33), comes from Fallout 3, the game.
In Fallout 3, the Lone Wanderer sets out on a quest to find his father, James. Another source material for Lucy’s venture to the Wasteland is Fallout 76, where the character is searching for the missing Overseer.
The show uses plenty of references to the games, and fans are still discovering them a month after the show was released. For example, the children at the birthday party in the first episode are seen watching Grognak, the Barbarian.
This is a reference to a fictional character who appears in all of the Fallout games. Another reference is when a character uses an inhaler (Jet) to boost combat effectiveness. Stimpaks, which are the same as those used in the game for healing shots, are also used a lot in the series.
Fallout’s Success
When video game adaptations first began to show in movies and TV shows, it would result in a failure. It wasn’t until the 2020s that video game fans began to see top-notch live actions of their favorite games that followed the story correctly.
Although some live-action movies attempted to create something successful, it didn’t always happen, even in recent years, such as with the live-action of Halo. It was as if the producers of Halo used the video game source material as a mere suggestion rather than use it to create a plot true to the source material.
It wasn’t until The Last of Us came out that more people began to see video games’ huge potential in TV and film. Fallout capitalized on the success of The Last of Us and rode that wave of success to Amazon’s streaming site as a top show.
With Amazon having around 200 million subscribers and continually putting out shows like The Boys, Invincible, Gen Z, and now Fallout, there is no question as to how Fallout became as successful as it did.
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