Being based on a hugely popular video game gives Prime Video’s Fallout series a big boost: there’s already built-in fan base. But there’s also pressure that comes with adapting a beloved property, and in a new interview, its showrunners talked about how they captured the game’s distinctive tone—especially its quirky sense of humor—for the streaming show.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner said throughout the multi-year process of bringing the game to TV, one big element that evolved was the show’s approach to comedy. “When we say ‘comedy,’ we mean the ways in which the show is odd and unexpected—not necessarily zingers,” Wagner explained. “We played with all versions of this. There were zingers in the script and we were like, ‘Is the show this?’ We found ourselves taking out a lot of the more classic jokes and just leaning into the premise itself, because there’s an absurdity to it. Taking an absurd premise and playing it with a relatively straight face felt like the best way to do it.”
Robertson-Dworet said “nailing that tone” that so carefully calibrates post-apocalyptic drama, graphic violence, and zany humor was the toughest thing about their task. But she also told the trade, “I love that the games make the apocalypse fun and weird, and I hope that’s something that we properly brought to the screen.”
All eight episodes of Fallout season one are now streaming on Prime Video.