Extinction is the rule.
Survival is the exception – Carl Sagan

The dazzling visual palette created in video games must be matched by richly-textured storytelling in order to create a successful adaptation into a television series. Set in Los Angeles in 2296, more than two hundred years after the nuclear apocalypse, Fallout depicts a world of luxury and ‘not so luxury’ places where the have and have nots duke it out.

Co-creators Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (The Office, Silicon Valley) spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about their comically-tinged bizarro television series which captures the tone of the games.

The first consideration in creating Fallout was the eccentric and sharply-contrasting world-building. “There are a lot of comparisons to A Boy And His Dog and Mad Max, but we talked a lot about Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is a world that contains many worlds,” explains Wagner. Although the cast of Fallout didn’t travel from planet to planet, they did travel from above ground to below ground worlds.

Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner. Photo by Jon Kopaloff/ Getty Images for Prime Video

The creators of Fallout notably harnessed the comedic flourishes of Start Trek: The Next Generation which were gently baked into the show.

They also discussed Sergio Leone’s seminal The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to inform the western wasteland elements in Fallout.

“They’re all the same cowboy regardless of whether you’re out there on the surface or out there in the wild west. The longer you’re out there, the more your moral decay as you try to survive out there in a lawless wasteland. They all become Ghouls if they stay out there long enough,” continues Wagner.

The Worlds Within The World

“These above and below grounds worlds are a reflection of the games. It’s all about choosing a faction,” says Robertson-Dwort. “There are many different factions that you can choose to help or ally yourselves with. We knew that we wanted to manifest at least a few of the factions with a point of view character.” 

Fallout uniquely is told from three specific gazes – Lucy (Ella Purnell), Maximus (Aaron Moten), and the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), each representing their privilege in the Wasteland.

Collectively, the worlds contain a variety of colorful, and often violent, characters. These include the Brotherhood Of Steel (a militia who want to restore order to the surface by seizing power), the Ghoul (mutated humans), Smoothskins (normies) and the Vaults (privileged class who live in their idyllic underground world) being the main communities.

“The different characters on the Wasteland are the most neglected, so we knew we wanted to make the Ghoul a point of view character,” adds Robertson-Dworet.

Lucy is a very moralistic character, and arguably drives the narrative spine. “She prides herself on what she considers to be her moral purity. We were very interested in sticking that out there on the Wasteland where she will be confronted by people who face so much greater challenges than she has, and that may be why they are morally corrupt,” explains Wagner. Her confrontation with having to survive outside the insular Vault spurs her into gradual moral change when she observes worlds far beyond those to which she is accustomed.

Tone

Fallout has a distinctly absurdist and idiosynchratic tone to say the least. The laughs range from mild smirks to side-splitting belly laughs.

“I think what makes Fallout so unique is that it has this very strange tone, which is weirdly funny and offbeat. It’s also very violent. It’s full of action, drama and moral dilemmas all at the same time. It’s a pastiche of B-movies. It draws from many inspirations and we tried to be faithful to that,” continues Robertson-Dworet.

This specific tone formed the basis for Geneva and Graham’s writing partnership. She came from action drama and he came from weird comedy. They complement each other perfectly.

Lucy (Ella Purnell) Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios

“We talk about comedy like music. It means different things to different people. This isn’t a comedy with big LOL jokes as much as it is fundamentally satirical at the very core of it. It’s like what happens when you outsource the survival of the human race to a private corporation,” muses Wagner with a sly grin.

We want to stay true to the satirical leanings of the Fallout games without peppering the TV show with zingers and gag – Graham Wagner

Theme

The thematic spine of Fallout dissects the moral decay facing humanity, especially in the face of increasing financial, social and environmental challenges. The duo also wanted to portray the Vault as a utopia oblivious to those living above ground.

“The Vault is a peaceful place where people pride themselves on being very civilized and polite to each other. That’s where Lucy comes from,” adds Robertson-Dworet.

The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios

The writers looked to countries like Canada and New Zealand which are perceived as being more egalitarian and peaceful to compare to the world of Fallout. Should these countries open their borders to those less fortunate? Don’t people from other countries deserve to live in these places too? Is there a happy medium where everyone can thrive, or is it always a case of the winner takes all?

The writing duo wanted to juxtapose these idealogically-contrasting worlds in Fallout rather than favor one side over the other Privilege (or lack of) doesn’t always accompany morality.

Aside from privilege, Fallout explores the deeply corrosive effect of factions on our societies. “We live in a world divided by factions and each faction believes they’re doing the right thing,” says Wagner. No one budges from their viewpoints.

In one scene, Maximus says, “Everyone wants to save the world. They just disagree on how, and then, they’re standing in front of a crater.” These deep disagreements may lead to the end of civilization.

Factionalism is often influenced by where and how you grew up and were raised more than innate beliefs. Factions are often born from tribalism as a means of acceptance and survival.

“I’m very interested in Maximus and the Brotherhood of Steel, because I think he’s trying to convince himself that these guys are heroic all around him. But really, they were people who would give him a home. I think that so many of us choose our factions in the real world for those kinds of reasons that are not very rational,” expands Robertson-Dworet.

Graham Wagner refers to a scene where Lucy stands at the crater looking inside. “She’s confronted with the reality that her worldview is so naïve and limited. We talked a lot about Lucy as something of a missionary who is  going to go out there and spread the good word about America.”

For Geneva Robertson-Dworet, the key emotional spine of Fallout is that share more commonalities than differences. “A lot of the emotion for us is about characters learning to see each other as humans as much as where they came from.“