Grab the latest updates for your Pip-Boy (Personal Information Processor), keep your eyes peeled for gangrenous Feral Ghouls, and get hyped for some irradiated garbage bin cuisine because the Fallout franchise is headed to television thanks to Amazon Prime. It's been a bear to bring the deal together, but Amazon Studios has officially licensed the rights to the games for WESTWORLD's Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy to bring Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks' post-apocalyptic world to the small screen.
For those of you keeping score at home, Fallout signals the first major project to be given the green light after the WESTWORLD creators/executive producers inked an overall deal with Amazon Studios. As a way to mark the occasion, Prime Video and Bethesda posted a short video tease announcing the endeavor.
If you're new to the concept of Fallout, the brand presents a mature post-nuclear setting with a retro-futuristic aesthetic, powered by the homebrew SPECIAL system. Complete with a 1940s bent, the Fallout franchise envisions an America that was ravaged by a nuclear war in the year 2077. There are currently six titles in the video game series (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76) as well as several spinoffs, including a squad-based tactical combat game titled Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, a vault simulation game called Fallout Shelter, and several tabletop games. (via Fallout Fandom)
For more context, here's Bethesda's official synopsis for my favorite game in the series, Fallout 3: For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of the Capital Wasteland. The residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you’ve ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.
“Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time,” said Kilter Films’ Joy and Nolan. “Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios.”
“Fallout is an iconic global franchise, with legions of fans worldwide and a rich, deeply compelling storyline that powers it. And Jonah and Lisa are the perfect storytellers to bring this series to life,” said Albert Cheng, COO and Co-Head of Television, Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled to join with Bethesda to bring Fallout to television.”
While the Fallout brand has suffered some blowback after the oh-so-clunky release of Fallout 76, there's no denying that Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are two top-tier talents that could make a TV series based on the franchise worth tuning in for. I'll definitely be watching the development of this project closely, and will keep my fingers crossed that it capitalizes on what's made the Fallout franchise so beloved after all these years.