The Fallout franchise is one of the biggest names in the world of video games. But with the main Prime Video Fallout TV series so beloved, and a new unscripted reality competition show, Fallout Shelter, on the way, it seems like Fallout is preparing to take the world of television by storm as well. After all, the Fallout TV series has created and developed so many fascinating characters; it’d be a shame not to explore some of those stories more closely. And if the excited reception to Fallout Shelter is any indication, there’s an appetite to see all kinds of Fallout series grace our screens. Hey, even Fallout‘s fun social series starring the Snake Oil Salesman has been a hit. But, of course, the expansion of a Fallout TV franchise would need to be carefully considered and executed. We asked the creators of both Prime Video’s Fallout series and of Fallout Shelter, Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan, if they saw the Fallout franchise expanding with more series and TV specials in the future. You can hear what they had to say below at the 15: 34 time stamp:
Speaking of the idea of Fallout Shelter and an expanding Fallout TV franchise, Jonathan Nolan offered, “Making a TV show is really hard, so you want to keep your focus as much as possible. But, we had a conversation with Studio Lambert, who I think are the best unscripted producers in the business. And their enthusiasm and their idea for what to do with that series was what made me so excited about it. And we’re very excited for that.”
Game creator and series executive producer Howard echoed these sentiments, saying, “You hear about it, and at first you’re like ‘What?! A reality show for Fallout?’ Then you hear the idea and meet with them. And you just want to watch it, it’s great. And it’s great, the things we’re doing with that, it kind of fits into the world in a unique way. I think, if the Vaults are a social experiment in Fallout‘s world, let’s see what it looks like for real.”
Well, with glowing endorsements like those, we can help but be EVEN more excited about the Fallout Shelter series. And to us, it sounds like the answer for whether we’ll get more entries into the Fallout TV franchise lies in two elements: 1) Is there a good enough idea to pursue? 2) Does the idea offer a unique new perspective into Fallout‘s world? Since Fallout Shelter brings both these aspects to the table, it’s the right next step for the Fallout TV franchise. But it does feel like there’s space for it not to be the only next step.
We know that we at Nerdist would be excited for basically any new Fallout TV show we could get. But we’d especially feel excited to see the franchise give us a Mr. House backstory spinoff series… Maybe with Robert Downey Jr. playing Anthony House? Tell us you can’t see it, we dare you. Alternatively, actually getting to see one of Cooper Howard’s pre-war TV series brought to life would also be pretty cool and very meta. The period of time when Moldaver ran Shady Sands (you know, before Hank MacLean bombed it out of existence) also feels like it’s rife with possibility… and comes complete with a tragic ending. And hey, Bobby Apartment is a mysterious fellow whom the fandom loves; maybe we could see his intriguing story told on-screen.
All this to say, yes, we would like to see the Fallout TV franchise expand, especially since we know its creators are taking care that any expansions and spinoffs are of the highest quality. But for now, we’ll be patiently looking forward to Fallout season three and eagerly anticipating Fallout Shelter.