Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, a young Vault Dweller
Prime Video’s Fallout is officially a hit – the video game adaptation has already been renewed for a second season, having shot to third place on Prime’s most-watched list.
The series has been well-received by viewers and critics; even seasoned gamers are satisfied with the faithful depiction of Fallout’s post-apocalyptic retro-futurism, and unhinged sense of humor.
The husband-wife duo behind the series, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, previously helmed HBO’s Westworld; surely, the two were well-equipped to tackle a story about maniacs in cowboy hats wandering the wastelands.
Why Does ‘Fallout’ Work As A Series?
As far as video game franchises go, Fallout is well-suited for adaptation. Unlike Halo, there was no blank-slate protagonist to flesh out, as the open-world games allow players to customize their character.
Hence, the showrunners had the freedom to craft new characters — Ella Purnell as a naive vault-dweller, Walton Goggins as a ghoul gunslinger, and Aaron Moten, clad in the franchise’s iconic power armor.
The Fallout games offer distinctive vibes, iconography, and stellar worldbuilding; the franchise is a playground for a skilled showrunner, and the creative team nailed the tone.
Might a similar approach work for Bethesda’s other major franchise, The Elder Scrolls? There are currently no such plans, but Oblivion and Skyrim are still beloved titles.
One could easily imagine a future adaption outpacing Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — there’d be no Peter Jackson-helmed adaption to compare it to, for one.
What Does The Success Of ‘Fallout’ Have To Do With Superheroes?
In the wake of declining interest in superhero stories, video games offer a new IP frontier for streaming giants and Hollywood studios. In the ever-blooming sea of content, it’s hard for a new series or film to attract attention without a pre-existing fanbase.
Sometimes, a breakout hit will emerge due to positive word-of-mouth, like Beef, Fleabag, or Baby Reindeer. Otherwise, competition is incredibly high; there’s a lot of “content” out there.
Hence, studios and streamers lean on popular IP to boost the visibility of new titles, whether it’s a reboot, legacy sequel, or comic book adaptation (whether or not that’s a positive development is another conversation).
The superhero era was sparked by Brian Singer’s X-Men movies and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, culminating in the billion-dollar behemoth known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s no secret that the MCU, the highest-grossing franchise of all time, recently lost its luster, with a slate of underwhelming, under-performing entries like Thor: Love and Thunder and The Marvels.
Audiences grew tired of increasingly complex connectivity, of learning about C-list superheroes and sitting through tedious origin stories, only to be promised a better film next time. Who needed to know how Madame Web got her sunglasses?
Even sequels to big franchises like Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, and Ghostbusters are failing to light up the box office nowadays.
That being said, childhood nostalgia hasn’t gone away — Barbie was a smash hit ($1.446 billion), but it remains to be seen if the proposed “Mattel cinematic universe” will prove as popular — audiences might not be as excited to see Barney and Polly Pocket.
That leaves video games as the new landscape filled with high-profile IP, a vast catalog of wonderful worlds and characters waiting to be adapted to film and television, dedicated fanbases included.
Plus, video games aren’t subject to the limitations of superhero stories — many of them are also power fantasies, sure, but they can be about anything.
What About The ‘Video Game Adaptation Curse?’
The “video game adaption curse” seems to have been shattered by the Sonic movie, which endured major online backlash and mockery due to a dreadful redesign of the titular hedgehog. The filmmakers, however, listened to the fan outcry and corrected their mistake, to great success ($319.7 million).
Now, Idris Elba is voicing Knuckles, and the incoming Sonic 3 will feature Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog, which would have been dismissed as a Reddit fantasy just a few years ago.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie showed that family-friendly video game adaptations could do MCU numbers ($1.36 billion). Five Nights At Freddy’s managed to rake in more than $300 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing horror film of 2023.
Adaptations of The Legend of Zelda and Minecraft are on their way; both franchises are wildly popular, but the cultural impact of Minecraft on younger millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha cannot be overstated — the incoming movie might even challenge Mario's box office crown.
On television, Fallout is just the latest success story; HBO’s The Last of Us was critically acclaimed, and even Twisted Metal was well-received. There are many more video game adaptions coming to streaming, such as Death Stranding, Days Gone, and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Interestingly, every single one of these adaptations, including Fallout, takes place in a post-apocalyptic hellscape — perhaps this speaks more to the current mood than anything else.
Those sandy wastelands could easily represent the current state of the superhero landscape. At least, until Deadpool & Wolverine make the desert bloom.
