“People had approached us over a ten year period to adapt Fallout”: Jonathan Nolan Wasn’t the First to Attempt to Bend Todd Howard’s Ear, but he Was the First to be Successful

Howard wasn’t looking for someone to simply adapt the game; he wanted someone to create a new story with the world.

SUMMARY

  • Todd Howard revealed during a press conference that he had been approached several times since Fallout 3 to adapt the game into a show.
  • He agreed to Nolan’s adaptation, as they were both in sync with their plans for the adaptation.
  • The show is set to launch on April 11 on Prime Video.
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Prime Video’s Fallout series trailer is now the talk of the town among fans of the game. With the next installment of the game still years away, the series will have a good bit of content for fans to sink their teeth into. 

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While the quality may vary, the Fallout games have always been story-focused, and such games always lend themselves to good adaptations, as long as the person behind the wheel knows what they are doing. It appears that’s how Todd Howard feels too, since this isn’t the first time he was approached with the request to adapt the game. 

A Fallout Adaptation Has Always Been on the Table

Todd Howard was unimpressed by previous Fallout adaptation ideas.
Todd Howard was unimpressed by previous Fallout adaptation ideas.

Once the trailer for the series was revealed, Jonathan Nolan, Todd Howard, and others involved in the series sat down for a press conference where they spoke at length about the development of the show. Jonathan started the interview by stating just how invested he was, as a gamer, in the Fallout series, and that was probably the kind of dedication Howard wanted to see. 

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When asked what made Howard say yes to this adaptation, he revealed this is not the first time such a request was made. But no matter the approach, Howard maintained that they took a very cautious approach to the idea. He then went on to recount his first encounter with Nolan, which had happened over a lunch where Nolan was able to share his love for Fallout with the Bethesda boss. 

He claimed it felt like he had known Nolan for a very long time and that his approach to the series was very much in sync with what Howard had in mind. 

This is a creative endeavor, and having partners that you trust that can really bring something new to it, and make it both authentic to the world of Fallout and present that for the screen in a new way, it’s been a great collaboration.

That lunch between Nolan and Howard must have been a meeting of minds, since it was that fateful day five years ago that sealed the deal and resulted in the series, we will all be binging come April 11.

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The Series Will Follow an Original Storyline

Get ready for a unique Fallout adventure in April.
Get ready for a unique Fallout adventure in April.

The creators have been very clear that the story of the upcoming series will not follow any of the previous games. Being set in the Fallout universe, fans will catch references to the older games, but the narrative will be happening after the events we have already seen in the games so far. 

One thing the creators wanted to capture was the social commentary afforded by Fallout games and the dynamic of the seemingly perfect life within the Vault to the horrors that are occurring just beyond its metal walls. 

With the show built on 25 years of creativity, the stakes are high, and the hype is real. Fans are going to be eagerly waiting to see how the creator of Westworld handles the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout, and they won’t have to wait long. 

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Do you think the series is going to be a faithful recreation of the Fallout world? Let us know in the comments below.

Sagar Nerala

Written by Sagar Nerala

Articles Published: 182

Gaming was one of my earliest passions then along came writing, and here we are. I've been in the content creation space for several years now and as gamer for even longer. From understanding the complexities of a multilayer narrative to the simply joy of "big gun go boom", my goal is to capture all the emotions in between and put them down in an engaging manner.