The new trailer for Amazon’s Fallout series shows more details about the story and characters. MeinMMO author Christoph Waldboth believes that the series could be a really good video game adaptation.
I love the wasteland. This may sound strange to outsiders, but fans of the Fallout series know what I mean.
Wandering through the mostly decayed cities and settlements, meeting eccentric characters, and learning their stories is just a lot of fun for me. The scenario is actually very serious. The nuclear war is over, and the remnants of humanity have either retreated into the Vaults, which are underground bunkers, or live somewhere among the ruins.
Just like in Fallout 3, I unsuspectingly step out of the Vault where I grew up into the surface world. What awaits me there fascinates me with its absurdity. Players can still experience this in the older games or in the online spin-off Fallout 76.
Lucy (Ella Purnell), the protagonist of Amazon’s new Fallout series, is likely to experience something very similar. We caught a glimpse of her in the first teaser, and now in the new, longer trailer we learn a little more about her.
I was able to watch the new trailer in advance and learn the thoughts of the director, the writers, and the actors during a panel. I felt that the creative minds behind the series know exactly what we fans want.
Here you can see the new trailer:
The showrunners are fans of the source material
Anyone who wants to adapt Fallout must know Fallout well. That sounds logical at first, but it is far from given. It is this strange mix of drama, action, and absurd humor that makes the games unique for me.
Translating that into a series is no easy task. With Jonathan Nolan as director, someone with extensive experience in the television industry is at the helm of production, for example, with Westworld.
I found it refreshing when Nolan shared in the panel how much he fell in love with Fallout 3 many years ago. He played it for a whole year and couldn’t get enough of it. I felt similarly, even though my entry was the successor, New Vegas. When Nolan finally got the green light from Todd Howard and Bethesda, it was a dream come true for him.
However, it was important to him to tell a completely new story. He wanted to create his own version of the Fallout universe. I find this approach commendable. Only then can something unique come into being.
For me, the greatest strengths of Fallout are the many small and large stories. They often tell of the problems of the wasteland dwellers – and of the social divide. Fallout has always been political.
This point is said to be particularly important according to Nolan. The protagonist Lucy has lived her entire life in the safe Vault, so she has been privileged. As seen in the trailer, she will leave the shelter and expose herself to the dangers of the surface. She will meet various characters – and hear their perspectives. This brings us to the characters.
The characters come from different worlds
Alongside Lucy, who will likely experience a significant transformation into a hardened fighter throughout the series, Maximus (Aaron Moten) also plays an important role. He is part of the faction known as the Brotherhood of Steel. The trailer hints that he is out for revenge. But why?
Lucy and he will cross paths. Two completely different worldviews clash in this encounter. These contrasts are what have always made Fallout special for me.
As the third, and probably the most eccentric main character, we see in the trailer the bounty hunter Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), who roams the wasteland as a ghoul. According to the series creators, he is an ambivalent character. He has his own sense of morality and is generally quite quirky. He embodies the spirit of Fallout for me: unpredictability and a good dose of recklessness.
Fallout could become a real highlight
The trailer showcases impressive visuals and, in my opinion, stands out for its great attention to detail. I recognize many elements from the games, including weapons, armor, and of course, the obligatory Vault Boy. Everything feels handmade and real – CGI was avoided as much as possible.
Currently, I am optimistic about the new series. The ingredients are right, and the ambition of those responsible is also high. I trust the man who, alongside Westworld, also co-wrote the Batman trilogy and Interstellar with his brother Christopher Nolan.
I am particularly curious whether they will manage to capture the right tone in the end. According to Nolan, that was the biggest challenge in the adaptation, and I hope they succeeded.
All eight episodes will be released simultaneously on April 11, 2024, on Amazon Prime. By then, we will know more. And just as I know myself, I will install Fallout: New Vegas again after the series ends and start a new save. The first teasers of the new series have already excited the fans.
