Lifestyle Asia joins a roundtable interview with the cast of Fallout who dish on Season 2 of the critically-acclaimed show.
Gamers are being well-fed with the slew of video game adaptations that have been hitting it out of the park. It doesn’t seem to be slowing down either, what with the recently unveiled Street Fighter movie coming out next year, and the movie version of the viral horror game, Exit 8. Prime Video’s Fallout joined the coveted list of great video game adaptations last year much to the delight of gamers.
Ella Purnell’s naive but lovable Lucy, Walton Goggins’ mysterious and hard-edged Ghoul, and Aaron Moten’s ambitious Maximus in the midst of the cruel and unforgiving Wasteland were loved by fans and newbies alike, so much so that a second season was greenlit right after it was released. With the upcoming release of Fallout Season 2, Lifestyle Asia joined a roundtable interview with the three cast members to talk about this new season.
[Hero and feature image: Prime Video]
Fallout cast dish on Season 2
Do you remember how you felt when Season 2 was greenlit?
Ella Purnell: We were at a wine bar, right, getting dinner? And Jonah told us, and we cheers-ed. I had a feeling it might happen but wasn’t sure. It was a beautiful, really emotional moment with this little family we’ve created.
Going into Season 2, were you able to suggest anything for your character now that you know them better?
Walton Goggins: There are things about Cooper Howard I can’t get into, but we dig much deeper into who he is. We pick up with him realising his wife might be the architect of the end of the world. I talked a lot with the writers about his journey, what’s revealed, and how to get there. We had great conversations about his relationship with Frances Turner, who plays Barb. It was a lovely collaboration. I can’t wait for people to see that side of the story.
How have the revelations from Season 1 changed your characters this coming second season?
Aaron Moten: What’s beautiful is that we’re still at the beginning of our story. We’re so happy to finally be showing Season 2 and excited about stepping into a third. These shared experiences are changing the characters. I love fantasising that by the end, we might not even recognise them from where they started.
Going into Season 2 felt like an expansion of the themes. We’ve come out of the overture and now we’re hearing the first movement with new players on the board. I was obsessing over [Justin] Theroux, over Kumail [Nanjiani], and Macaulay Culkin joining us. There’s a lot more this year, and it’s exciting to see how much everyone grows.
You three speak about this show with so much pride. Why does it mean so much to you, both in the making of the series and the story?
Ella: The show has changed my life on so many levels. It’s creatively fulfilling; I’ve learned so much personally. I’m a better actor. I’ve made lifelong friends. I speak about it with pride because of how deeply it’s shaped me. I carry Lucy in me, and I will forever. This game has existed for 20 years; thousands of people have shaped it. We have a 700-person crew. Fathers played it with their sons, and people get emotional talking about it. It’s a global community. To be even a tiny part of that is incredible.
Looking back at Season 1, how do you feel about your character’s growth?
Aaron: I’m excited about it. With film, you obsess over one script. Here, we get eight scripts a season. We’ve created a world where I’m never bored, and that keeps me invested. It helps me grow as an artist. Honestly, Season 2 already feels like the past to me. We’re about to share it with the world but I’ve already moved on mentally. But I know the characters will keep evolving, not always linearly, but growing nonetheless.
Walton, Cooper and The Ghoul are so different. Who do you prefer playing?
Walton: You can’t have one without the other. I enjoy both. One takes two and a half hours in the makeup chair, the other takes eight minutes. Cooper’s going through a lot this season. His whole worldview is falling apart. It’s chaotic, confusing, and delicious to play.
Anytime I get to put on the jacket and the spurs and walk through the desert as the Ghoul, I love it. You asked earlier why we care so much? Because if we don’t care, nobody else will. And this is what I love to do more than anything. I don’t know how not to care.
The journey Lucy and the Ghoul go on, it’s fun because you’ve got two people who don’t know how to talk to each other or where they’re going. One’s an optimist, one’s a nihilist. We had to earn their proximity, even down to “Who speaks first? When does the Ghoul respond?” I get obsessed with the reality of every situation.
And yeah, we care. We fu**ing care. You can bleep that out.
Walton, earlier this year, you played Rick in The White Lotus who was searching for peace. In Fallout, The Ghoul is also on his own unique quest for peace. What is so compelling about playing characters like this?
Walton: I’ve spent 35 years playing people looking for peace probably because I’ve been looking for it myself. I don’t talk publicly about politics; I try to do it through story. I once did a CBS sitcom about a widower raising two daughters. I told them I’d only do it if they let me make people cry as much as they laugh. And they said yes. We only went two seasons, but people who had lost spouses stopped me, sobbing, in my arms. That’s the power of storytelling. And that’s why we’re all here. Everyone in this cast feels the same way.
Fallout Season 2 is now available on Prime Video.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.