Video game adaptations are becoming big business, and unlike a few years ago, they’re actually good. Gone are the days of subpar, almost insulting Super Mario Bros. movies of the 90s, replaced by semi-decent, very dedicated to the source material The Super Mario Bros. Movie of the 00s. Gone is the terrible Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movies, replaced by… equally bad, equally forgettable Welcome to Raccoon City. Okay, that one is a bad example.
The latest video game adaptation incoming is Prime Video’s Fallout TV Show, and after the latest trailer, it’s safe to say it looks incredible, just like The Last of Us, it’s clear the producers, writers, and directors are all determined to be as close to the source material as possible.
Jonathan Nolan is a Gamer, a Fan, and a Perfectionist
Jonathan Nolan, brother of film auteur Christopher Nolan, is a big name in and of himself, having contributed to some of the biggest and best films and TV shows of the past two decades. From Christian Bale’s Batman trilogy to Interstellar, Westworld, and Person of Interest, the writer/director/producer has a lot of experience, and varied experience at that.
Speaking at Prime Video’s Fallout press conference last night, ahead of the release of the incredible-looking trailer below, Jonathan Nolan had a lot to say not only about the show but about his own brush with the Fallout franchise years ago:
It started for me with Fallout 3, which devoured about a year of my life. I was an aspiring young writer, at that point. It almost derailed my entire career. It’s so ludicrously playable and fun. Seriously, the games are just incredible. It’s such a rare thing and such an unbelievable thing, and I’ve gotten to do it twice in my career, to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe and to create your own version of that universe. The first go around for me was Batman and this time with Fallout, a series of games that I absolutely loved.
As the quote proves, it shows that even the biggest and best in Hollywood can get sucked into the same games and universes that we do. Nolan being such a big fan of the franchise can only be a good thing, with the trailer including a lot of nods, and easter eggs and nailing the general tone of the Fallout universe to a tee, and a lot of that must come from his dedication to get it right.
Fallout Looks to be in Good Hands, and it Looks Gooooood
There’s no getting away from it, based on that trailer we’re in for a treat with Prime Video’s Fallout TV show. With the pedigree of those involved it may not be that much of a surprise, but considering the recent run of bad luck Bethesda has had with their last few releases, it would hardly have surprised anyone if this was the next in line.
During the same press conference, Nolan was asked what he thought the hardest parts of the Fallout universe were to nail, and unsurprisingly, the power armor was one answer, but the tone was another:
We talked a lot about the power armor and the tone. The tone was a big thing. I think the tone was maybe the most challenging and the most intimidating thing for me. Working with Geneva and Graham, we knew that we were gonna be in a really good place with that incredibly ambitious story on a technical level. The scope of the world and the power armor, in particular, was one of those things where you go, “How on earth are we gonna do that?” But we got there.
Along with many other things, the power armor certainly looks like it was pulled straight from the video games, and as many of us will attest to, other than the vaults, it’s the most iconic part of Fallout lore.
Jonathan Nolan may have almost derailed his career thanks to Fallout 3, but years later it looks like there’s every chance of this being an incredibly good part of his resume. Fallout releases on April 11th, with all episodes dropping at once on Prime Video.
