Amazon Studios' live-action Fallout series looks like it could serve as the next game in the franchise, and that's not by coincidence. The creative team for the post-apocalypstic series, which will launch all episodes in April for those with a Prime subscription, worked very closely with Bethesda Game Studios to the point where they're far more knowledgable than most about what's happening in the fifth game. They know some of what's on the way for players, and I'm insanely jealous.
With the way Fallout's trailer brought the games to life in small doses, I can't help but feel a little more envious of the team that worked on the series. And that went double after seeing executive producer Jonathan Nolan's comments from an interview with Den of Geek, where he revealed that bringing this far-reaching universe to the small screen made them privy to some of the upcoming game's secrets, not that he's spilling any of them. Here's how he put it:
We know all about Fallout 5, we’re not telling anyone.
The TV series takes place nine years after the events of Fallout 4, which led some fans to wonder if the show was meant as a surrogate for a fifth game installment. That is not the case, of course, but it does seem like Bethesda fed the creative team some details being planned for the still-unreleased game so that the live-action world could feature such exclusive details.
Bethesda's Todd Howard, who has previously said the new show contains details he wishes were in the games, explained one particular reason for filling in Nolan, fellow EP Lisa Joy, and others on Fallout 5. Namely, he wanted to make sure the show didn't cover the exact same storytelling ground that the future game would also cover, since the series isn't a specific adaptation.
Well, there were some things where I said, ‘Don’t do this because we are going to do that in Fallout 5.' It wasn’t the translation of an existing story. It was, what would the next thing be? It just happens to be a TV show.
It sounds like Todd Howard wanted to make sure Fallout didn't spoil anything set for the upcoming game, which reportedly won't start production until Bethesda's next game, The Elder Scrolls 6, is released. Unfortunately, current projections are that the follow-up to Skyrim won't be out until 2026 at the earliest, so we could be waiting on Fallout 5 for quite a while.
While I can appreciate Bethesda probably doesn't want to delay its upcoming game any longer than it has to if the story is written, one does have to wonder how much freedom Fallout has as a series should it continue after Season 1. There could be time enough for multiple seasons to release by the time Fallout 5 comes around, so hopefully the restrictions for what can and can't be included aren't too limiting.
The Fallout universe is set in a post-apocalyptic United States, decades after all the world's superpowers decided to launch their nukes at each other. The result, at least in the United States, has created vast wastelands where a lucky few humans who could afford to live in nuclear-resistant Vaults emerged unscathed decades later.
Those who didn't die in the nuclear attacks were mutated into what is considered an entirely different species or are living a hard life on the outside where food and resources are scarce, and violence is usually the answer to most problems. Those who play the games know just how wild it can get, and those who tune in for the series will find out soon enough.
As mentioned, Fallout arrives on Prime Video on April 11th. Out of all the upcoming video game movies and TV shows, it's my most anticipated on the list. Here's hoping it lives up to the hype, and makes the wait for Fallout 5 that much easier to bear.
