Live-action video game adaptations are everywhere nowadays, and they're pretty hit and miss. For every The Last of Us, there's a Halo. Some stories naturally translate into live-action, whereas others miss the point entirely. Amazon Prime Video's Fallout series is hoping to achieve the former.
The live-action Fallout show won't directly adapt the story of the games. Instead, like the individual entries in the Fallout franchise, it'll tell its own standalone story told within the wider mythos. This gives it a sense of freedom compared to other video game adaptations. The creators aren't necessarily seeing this show as an 'adaptation' per se, but rather a unique chapter in the Fallout saga -- it's Fallout 5, just not as an interactive video game.
"From the first conversation with Todd we were most excited about an original story," executive producer Jonathan Nolan told Total Film.
"Each of the [Fallout] games is a discrete story – different city, distinct protagonist – within the same mythology," Nolan explained. "Our series sits in relation to the games as the games sit in relation to each other. It’s almost like we’re Fallout 5. I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but it’s just a non-interactive version of it, right?"
Of course, whenever we talk about video game adaptations, there's one that comes to mind as the pinnacle of the form. I'm talking about HBO's The Last of Us. The live-action version of the beloved Naughty Dog game was an immense success, faithfully adapting the source material while adding new elements. "Now there’s an expectation of: 'No, they can actually be great. I watched some good ones,'" co-showrunner Graham Wagner added. "In a perverse way, I wish there was more snobbery so that we could have been the first!"
Fallout premieres April 11 on Amazon Prime Video. All eight episodes will drop at once.
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