The world of one of gaming’s most beloved franchises is coming to life with Prime Video’s Fallout. Based on Bethesda’s smash-hit video game series of the same name, Fallout thrusts audiences into the harsh and unforgiving world of the Wasteland. What once was a retro-futuristic utopia has dissolved into a deadly Mad Max-style environment, filled to the brim with malfunctioning robots, bloodthirsty monsters, and sadistic raiders. Some were lucky enough to escape these horrors by living in claustrophobic yet mostly safe Vaults. One resident of Vault 33 is about to discover just how different her comfortable life in the Vault is compared to the danger-infested world of the Wasteland.
Fallout is not a direct adaptation of one of the Fallout games but is rather a new story set in the same world of the games. The show will even be taking place in a yet-to-be-seen facet of the Fallout universe that fans have been begging to see, that being the Western coast of Southern California. The new story and settings give Prime Video’s Fallout show an incredible opportunity to introduce new, fleshed-out characters that fans can grow attached to. To learn about just some of them and who will be playing them, read below for our comprehensive cast and character guide.
Fallout
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
Release Date April 11, 2024
Main Genre Sci-Fi
Seasons 1
Creator(s) Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Streaming Service(s) Prime Video
Ella Purnell
Lucy
Fallout is expected to follow a large variety of characters, but the closest thing the show has to a main protagonist is Lucy, played by Ella Purnell. The monster-slaying skills that Purnell learned in Army of the Dead will hopefully come in handy for the feral ghouls she may come into contact with.
Over a hundred years before Ella was born, the United States of America was all but annihilated by nuclear war. Most of the country’s population perished, but not all, as some just barely survived the fallout. The super rich and fortunate, however, were able to buy their way into safety by purchasing a membership in a Vault Shelter, created by the controversial company of Vault-Tec. Lucy must have been related to one of those lucky few who got access to the Vaults, as she has lived in Vault 33 for her entire life. Her comfortable lifestyle gives her a positive, can-do attitude that she hopes to share with those outside the Vault. She believes it’s her mission and purpose in life to bring the resources and knowledge of the Vault to those living in the Wasteland, but she may rethink that once she meets some of its residents.
Aaron Moten
Maximus
One of Lucy’s closest allies in the show is a Brotherhood of Steel soldier named Maximus, played by Emancipation star Aaron Moten.
There are many factions and organizations in the Fallout universe, but easily one of the most recognizable is the Brotherhood of Steel, which Maximus is clearly a member of. Often depicted as the “good guys” in the Fallout games (or at least as good as you can be in a complicated world like Fallout’s), the Brotherhood of Steel exists all across the Wasteland. Their mission is to find and preserve artifacts and technology that survived the nuclear war in the hope of using them to rebuild society. It’s a goal that generates many enemies, so it’s a good thing the Brotherhood has the military might of a small country, armed with helicopter-like Vertibirds and powerful sets of power armor. Maximus is enlisted in the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel after they saved him from a terrible tragedy, one that he has not forgotten all these years later.
Walton Goggins
The Ghoul
Despite taking place in the far future, Fallout is a Western in a lot of ways, and the mysterious bounty hunter known only as The Ghoul is a fine example of a Western anti-hero. It’s more than appropriate that regular Western star Walton Goggins is under all that makeup for the role, given his previous work in Western films and shows like Justified and The Hateful Eight. Goggins’ character may be called “The Ghoul”, but he’s far from the only ghoul.
Many humans did manage to survive the nuclear war, but some were not so lucky as to walk away unscathed. Thousands, potentially millions, of people, were infected with severe radiation poisoning that scarred and disfigured their appearance. The positive side effect of this is that these people, referred to by the Wasteland population as “ghouls”, are practically immortal. They are still subject to physical harm, but they can live for hundreds of years, meaning some ghouls are older than the nuclear war itself. The further bad news comes with the adverse mental effects that “ghoulification” entails, as every ghoul eventually goes feral and turns into a mindless bloodthirsty zombie.
The Ghoul in the Fallout show is depicted as a charismatic bounty hunter, but the trailers for the show do give some hints at the life he once had before the war hundreds of years ago. The main trailer begins with a pre-ghoul version of The Ghoul hosting an advertisement for a Vault Shelter. The later scene of the character watching an old Western starring himself seems to imply The Ghoul was an actor in his glory days. He also seemingly had a family that may very well have been lost over a century ago.
Kyle MacLachlan
Overseer Hank
There are some strange things that occur in the world of Fallout, but that’s something that Kyle MacLachlan is willing to put up with as long as you get him “a damn fine cup of coffee.” The actor certainly saw more of his fair share of weirdness in the show he’s most well-known for, Twin Peaks.
Hank is Lucy’s father, and his title of Overseer in Vault 33 gives some pretty good ideas about his role in the show. Overseer is the title given to the individual who is fully in charge of the Vault, its operations, and the people who dwell within it. Their position gives them access to Vault-Tec intel that nobody else in the Vault has, which is why many Overseers in the games tend to abuse their power. Unbeknownst to most Vault dwellers, Vault-Tec engaged in more than a few unethical business practices before the war, and many of the Vault denizens were planned to be used as guinea pigs for the defunct company’s experiments.
Michael Emerson
Wilzig
Image via Prime Video
Fallout has no shortage of mad scientists, and the latest entry into that category is Wilzig, played by Person of Interest star Michael Emerson.
Not much about Wilzig is known other than a bounty is on his head, and The Ghoul arrives one day to try and collect that reward. Wilzig’s moral alignment has yet to be determined, but odds are he was doing some research that rubbed somebody the wrong way.
Matt Berry
Mr. Handy
An iconic robot from the games makes an appearance in Fallout, and while this hasn’t been officially confirmed by Prime Video, the voice of Mr. Handy is almost certainly What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry.
Robotic helpers were very common before the infamous war, and one of the most popular models was Mr. Handy. These robots effectively served as butlers for anyone who owned them and were capable of performing a large variety of tasks including cleaning, cooking, babysitting, and more. The Mr. Handy Lucy meets in the trailer is clearly one of the many malfunctioning models in the Wasteland, as he politely tells her that he wants to harvest her organs.
Dogmeat
Image via Prime Video
Last but not least, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the goodest good boy in all the Wasteland, Dogmeat. While not simply being a single dog that is literally present in every Fallout game, a companion canine named Dogmeat has become a staple in the Fallout series, and it’s nice to see that the show is keeping with tradition and giving the franchise’s new hero a Dogmeat of her own.
The complete first season of Fallout will be available to stream on Prime Video starting April 11, 2024.
Watch on Prime Video