Jonathan Nolan knows the obsessive side of video game fandom. In fact, he himself is a big fan of the video game series on which the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Fallout is based.
“It started, for me, with Fallout 3, which devoured about a year of my life,” Nolan said of the third installment in the Bethesda-developed, post-apocalyptic RPG series.
“I was an aspiring young writer at that point, and it almost derailed my entire career. It’s so ludicrously playable and fun… seriously, the games were just incredible.”
Nolan continued, “It’s such a rare and unbelievable thing that I’ve gotten to do twice in my career, to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe, to create your own version. The first go-round for me was Batman, and this time with Fallout – a a series of games that I absolutely loved.”
Power Armor in Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout series/Amazon
Despite being such a rabid fan of the Fallout video games and understanding the importance of keeping the core essence of the games’ lore intact when adapting the properties for television, Nolan doesn’t think it’s feasible to fully please video game fans in this regard, calling the task a “fool’s errand.”
“I don’t think you really can set out to please the fans of anything,” Nolan said. “Or please anyone other than yourself. I think you have to come into this trying to make the show that you want to make and trusting that, as fans of the game [ourselves], we would find the pieces that were essential to us… and try to do the best version.”
Nolan added, “It’s kind of a fool’s errand to try to figure out how to make [other] people happy… You’ve got to make yourself happy. And I’ve made myself very happy with the show.”
Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout is set to premiere on the streaming service on April 12th. The series will consist of eight episodes, all of which will be available to stream from day one. The series will star Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Star Trek: Prodigy) as main protagonist Lucy, Walter Goggins (Justified, Tomb Raider) as The Ghoul/Cooper Howard and Aaron Moten (Father Stu, Emancipation) as Maximus.
What do you think of the fact that Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout director Jonathan Nolan says his obsession with Fallout 3 almost “derailed his entire career?” Do you think Nolan is accurate in his assessment that it’s a “fool’s errand” to placate fans of video game series when it comes to adapting them for television? Let us know in the comments.
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