MOVIE NEWS – The highly rated Prime Video adaptation of Fallout features a fresh storyline that incorporates beloved lore from the video games. While the show has been praised, the showrunners faced backlash for making changes to the game’s canon. Despite this, the series has been well-received.

The open-world nature of the Fallout games provided creative freedom for the showrunners to develop new storylines and characters for the TV adaptation. Prime Video’s Fallout, led by showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, has been recognized as one of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, comparable to HBO’s The Last of Us. However, during its development, Robertson-Dworet and Wagner encountered significant criticism for the changes they made to the beloved video game franchise.

Based on the games originally created by Interplay Entertainment and currently managed by Bethesda Softworks, Prime Video’s Fallout tells a new story set within the world of the video games and integrates lore from some of the most popular titles in the series.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter following the show’s 16 Emmy nominations, Robertson-Dworet and Wagner discussed the process of developing the series and how they addressed the initial backlash from fans. Like any adaptation worth its salt, Fallout alters and adds to the existing lore of the game’s universe. These changes, however, were met with heavy criticism from long-time fans of the games.

Graham Wagner believes that even the most beloved literary classics should be adapted and altered when brought to a different medium, and Fallout was no exception. He explained:

“Jane Austen isn’t sacred anymore. There might’ve been a time when you were considered a Philistine if you deviated from the original in an adaptation, but that time has passed. For Fallout, we did make significant changes to the game’s canonical history. There was a Reddit thread that had to be shut down because people were so upset. So, in a way, it’s become the new sacred cow. But that makes it more fun to play with.”

When Fallout was finally released on Prime Video earlier this year, fans were thrilled with the adaptation. Starring Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, and Aaron Moten, the series honors the lore of the games while also introducing a new story, packed with Easter eggs that delighted long-time fans. The show received excellent reviews from both audiences and critics, who are eagerly awaiting a second season. However, comparisons to HBO’s The Last of Us series were inevitable.

During the conversation, Geneva Robertson-Dworet explained the key differences between the two shows. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us video game tells a linear story that unfolds much like a TV series, with each level acting as a new episode. Meanwhile, the Fallout games feature expansive open worlds where players can choose their paths and decide how the stories play out.

As a result, Wagner and Robertson-Dworet had less of a strict narrative to adhere to, which was both a blessing and a challenge. Geneva Robertson-Dworet explains:

“Because it’s an open-world game, there are many ways the narrative can unfold. It’s not as sequential as The Last of Us — where they did a beautiful, very direct adaptation of the video game’s story. We didn’t have that option because everyone who plays the game does it in a different order. That was wonderfully liberating because we got to create our own story and characters within this world. When we started this project, we asked ourselves, ‘What characters would we want to create in this world and mythology?’”

Source: MovieWeb