Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan Talk Amazon’s ‘Fallout’ TV Series Clarifying Replacing Fallout 5

In the world of video game adaptations, few franchises are as eagerly anticipated as Fallout making the leap to the small screen. The beloved post-apocalyptic RPG series from Bethesda Game Studios has captivated millions with its rich storytelling and immersive open worlds. Now, Amazon MGM Studios is bringing that universe to life in an eight-episode TV series helmed by Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, along with showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner.

At the heart of this ambitious project is Bethesda’s own Todd Howard, the visionary director who has guided the Fallout franchise since 2008’s Fallout 3. His deep knowledge of the game’s lore and future plans has been invaluable in shaping the series’ narrative direction.

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During SXSW 2024, Todd Howard and Johnathan Nolan’s creative team and cast, including stars Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, and Aaron Moten, sat down to discuss their take on adapting the iconic Fallout universe for television. A recent quote from Jonathan Nolan about the show’s relation to the game canon had fans buzzing, and the team was eager to clarify.

In an interview with Total Film, Nolan described the series as “almost like we’re Fallout 5,” suggesting it could be a non-interactive version of the next mainline game. “Fallout, in my career, is closest to the work we did in adapting Batman,” Nolan remarked, “where there’s so much storytelling in the Batman universe that there is no canonical version of it, so you’re free to invent your own.”

However, both Nolan and Howard were quick to dispel any notion that the show would replace or interfere with the development of Fallout 5. “I think it would be very presumptuous for someone to assume that we’d reach the caliber of the games,” Nolan admitted. “It means you have all of the benefits of beautiful storytelling that Todd and [Bethesda] have contributed to, but we also get to tell an original story within that world.”

Howard confirmed that while he guided the show’s creators away from potential conflicts with Fallout 5’s story, the series is very much its own tale. “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.”

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This approach allowed the writers to craft a fresh narrative set in the year 2296, after the events of all the Fallout games to date. Robertson-Dworet explained that trying to adapt any single game would have been impossible due to the open-ended nature of the experiences. “If we tried to do it faithfully, half the gamers would have been like, ‘Wait, this is not the order that I remember,’” she said. “It’s more creatively interesting to be able to build our own story in the world that they’ve carved out for us.”

For Howard, the series represents an opportunity to bring the rich Fallout universe to a new audience. “In many respects, a game is just one portal into viewing this world. Yes, you’re in control, but for a lot of people, that can be intimidating,” he noted.

“Doing it in the TV format, it can still be very cinematic — like Jonah says, we’re doing an eight-hour movie here,” Howard said. “If you’re a fan of the series already, you can jump in and experience the next chapter in Fallout. If you’re not a fan and a bit intimidated by jumping in a game like that, you can experience everything that’s great about this world by clicking your button and enjoying it.”

Todd Howard & Jonathan Nolan’s ‘Fallout’ comes to Amazon on May 14th.

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