Two-hundred years after the apocalypse, The Wasteland is a pretty bleak place to be. It is not, one would imagine, the ideal location for a buddy road-trip comedy between an optimistic Vault Dweller and a mutated, decaying and dangerous outlaw.
But that’s the scenario that played out for Ella Purnell’s Lucy and Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul on Season 2 of Prime Video‘s Fallout as they reluctantly teamed up to find their family, for very different reasons.
“Lucy’s on this road trip with The Ghoul. They’re annoying each other, they’re like a married couple, bickering and trying to sort of influence the other. It’s a really fun starting place, and we got to see some really incredible locations,” Purnell said during a conversation with fellow cast and creatives for the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience.
She was joined by fellow castmembers Goggins, Frances Turner, Kyle MacLachlan, Aaron Moten, Moisés Arias and Justin Theroux; and executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Todd Howard. Watch the panel discussion below and scroll down for photos from the event.
Lucy is searching for her father Hank (MacLachlan) in order to bring him to justice, while The Ghoul, formerly known as movie star Cooper Howard, is on a search for clues about his pre-apocalypse life and what happened to his wife and daughter after the blasts.
The Ghoul betrays Lucy during the journey, but does, eventually redeem himself, somewhat. “He did put her through a lot. They wouldn’t want to admit it, but they have both influenced each other,” Purnell said. “That moment where he betrays her and she punches him out the window… really was such a defining moment for Lucy. She doesn’t act out of anger and she doesn’t inflict a ton of violence on people the way that The Ghoul does and that’s a moment where she really did think they were becoming friends and that’s such a personal hurt and betrayal. So, when he comes back and saves her at the end, it’s like, OK, he’s redeemed himself a bit, there’s still room to grow.”
Is The Ghoul working on himself? “From The Ghoul’s perspective, there was real shame and emotion that he hasn’t felt for maybe 200 years, and that was real, and it was just one of the many things that kind of happened along this journey for him,” said Goggins.
In the finale, Cooper Howard’s wife Barb leaves a postcard in the cryo-chamber, which indicates that perhaps The Ghoul’s family are safe. Are they? “I don’t know that I could speak to that totally, but I can tell you that it was not without a lot of deliberation by the powers that be,” Goggins added. “What does it mean if he does find them? He could have found them, right? It is the first moment in 200 years where hope really does spring eternal.”
The series was created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, who exec produce alongside Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Nolan previously said that the challenge of Season 1 was figuring out how to approach a video game known for its scale and attention to detail. What was the challenge for Season 2?
“Not f*cking it up,” Nolan joked. “You’ve got a group of people who enjoy the show and you’ve reached that larger audience, and so you want to reach for new heights. I think the second season was hugely ambitious and hugely exciting in terms of where we’re able to take these characters with this unbelievable cast.”
Moten plays stalwart soldier and newly knighted Maximus, who is grappling with his service to the increasingly militaristic and power-hungry Brotherhood of Steel and where he ultimately belongs. In Season 2, Maximus goes on his own journey of understanding how he can affect the world around him.
Moten said, “There are these moments that I think are embedded into the show about choice, where these characters get a moment where you know the camera might be sharing this thing with the audience, but it’s this moment where the character is making a choice and Maximus gets a lot of them. In silence, it’s him sort of observing the world around him.”
Talking of choice, Barb Howard makes her own choices, related to the future of the world, in her capacity at Vault-Tec. Essentially, Barb’s had two heel turns during the show’s first two seasons. Turner said, “I didn’t anticipate either one of them in the first season or second season, but I think it makes so much sense, because you see a woman who initially you just think of as a wife and mother… but she really gets turned, the archetype gets turned on its head. She has real wants, needs, desires, and a family that she loves and is protecting, and she’s driven by that protection with the fear underneath it.”
For MacLachlan, who plays the father of Lucy and Norm (Arias), this may be the most villainous character he’s ever played. He told Deadline that he’s “thrilled” to play someone so nefarious. Hank is dedicated to changing the world for the “better,” as defined by his specific ideals, and will stop at nothing in pursuit of that goal no matter how narrow-minded or self-serving it may be.
“He does some pretty awful things and yet I think the audience is somewhat uncertain as to how to respond to him because you can still see humanity in him,” he said.
Norm is one of Vault 33’s few skeptics or rebels. He began the show as a complete coward but his curious nature thrust him down a path of uncovering dark, dangerous secrets about his family, as well as being attacked by a swarm of Radroaches.
“Norm in Season 1 is this observant, skeptical sort of character, then at the beginning of the second season… he’s really thrust from observing into a leading position, and that’s what was most exciting, playing all those thoughtful moments and thrust into action,” Arias said.
There were also some new characters joining Season 2 of the series including Robert House, played by Theroux, an enigmatic, all-powerful technocrat dedicated to the pursuit of his own interests by any means necessary. Theroux said it was a “joyous” job to get. “The words are good, the sets are good, the acting is good, and the direction is top-drawer,” he said.
House is a major character in the New Vegas game; not a lonely guy, Theroux insists, but one perfectly happy being alone with his thoughts. He compared House to some of his “intellectual” family members. “I know a couple that I think have a better time during the day just sitting at home alone thinking on their couch, and at the end of the day maybe scribbling some stuff down on paper, and they don’t do well mixing with others,” he said.
The success of the Fallout series – it has already been renewed for Season 3 – has had a big impact on the video game, according to Howard, who leads development of the game franchise.
He said that the key to adapting it was to make it “authentic” and not worry too much about getting into fan service. “We have so many people who they’ve never played the games, and they never will, and that’s OK, but they love Fallout, just like somebody now who has played it for decades,” he said.
For more Deadline Studio at Prime Experience content, click here.
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