Drumroll, please. And a red carpet, if you don’t mind. The time has come for Fallout to introduce its first character from the games. In Fallout season two, Fallout: New Vegas‘ nefarious figure, Mr. House, comes onto the scene. And he arrives as we’ve never seen him before in any part of Fallout‘s world, in the flesh. Although we thought Mr. House would be played by Rafi Silver on the Fallout series, in Fallout season two, we meet the real Mr. House, now played by Justin Theroux. As we said in our overall Fallout season two review, Justin Theroux is absolutely brilliant as Mr. House. And it was Nerdist‘s pleasure to catch up with the actor to hear about Theroux’s perspective on the character, Mr. House’s relationship with Cooper Howard/The Ghoul, and more. You can read our full interview with Fallout season two’s Mr. House, Justin Theroux, himself, below.
Mr. House is the first major character in the Fallout TV series to come directly from the games. What was it like taking on the responsibility of bringing Mr. House to life in Fallout season two?
Justin Theroux: It was great. I tried to ignore the… It sounds like I’m being derelict, but I was kind of trying to ignore the responsibility or the need to please and really just sort of use the material to get me to where the character needed to be. So I just sort of approached it as I do in most roles, where it’s like, “Okay, what does he say? What does he do? What does he want? Who’s he with? And how can I really serve the scripts more than Robert House, writ large?”
Was there one aspect of Fallout: New Vegas‘s Mr. House that you did want to retain in your version of the character from Fallout season two?
Justin Theroux: Yes. I wanted to have a particular kind of voice or a kind of resonance to his voice that sort of immediately placed people on a lower tier. So whenever he was in a scene, you knew that someone from a higher tier has walked into the room. So that was sort of the one thing that I talked a lot about with Geneva [Robertson-Dworet] and Graham [Wagner], and modulating that voice to where it didn’t feel sort of cartoonish, felt real, and stayed consistent.
And is there something that you feel you bring fresh to Mr. House in Fallout season two that we haven’t previously seen in any iteration of him?
Justin Theroux: No. I mean, the look is, I think, as you would expect, and the clothing was so beautiful, and all the departments really took such good care of that character. So dressing Mr. House, designing his hair and mustache, and all the rest of it, keeping him very particular. But yeah, it’s that weird thing. I certainly didn’t want to do an impersonation of the wonderful actor who’s in the game. Though I knew I had to do something because obviously, Mr. House has never been seen in the flesh before. This is the first time fans are really going to see Mr. House off a television screen or a monitor. So I knew he had to, in order to make him sort of three-dimensional, we had to breathe a little more life into him, I guess.
From what we’ve seen so far in Fallout‘s trailers, Cooper Howard/The Goul and Mr. House seem to have a very complex relationship in season two. Can you describe their dynamic?
Justin Theroux: Yes, I can. The dynamic is such that they’re kind of like weird road buddies, I guess, to a certain extent, in that Mr. House doesn’t… How do I say this? They have to cross paths for a specific reason, and no spoilers, but it’s essential that Robert House summon him because he plays a pivotal part in, I guess, the end of the world. And that will be sort of revealed as you get deeper into the episodes of season two.
And, yes, no spoilers, but something else Cooper Howard and Mr. House really seem to have is incredible chemistry in their scenes together. What was it like working with Walton Goggins on the scenes you share?
Justin Theroux: Walton’s the best. It was just such a joy. I mean, I hope it comes across that we’re playing the scenes, of course, as written, but on the inside, we’re really giddy to be playing them together. He’s an old friend, and we just had such a delicious time making those scenes together.
Fallout raises many questions about who the real monsters are. Mr. House has some serious monstrous tendencies, but also a kind of deep desire for mankind to survive. Do you see Mr. House as a villain?
Justin Theroux: No, I don’t. I understand that Mr. House is a villain in the show, but in order to play him, I sort of had to fall in love with him as a character. And I think a lot of real-life villains, no one would say they’re a villain. They all think they’re doing something virtuous, or they’re trying to help humanity, or they’re trying to create technology that’s going to better the world, and we see obviously where that gets everyone. But yeah, I just sort of saw him as just sort of an odd quirky man, sort of a strange little ingrown toenail of a billionaire, and I really liked that about him in a weird way. I sort of plug my ears when anyone talks about him as a villain. I really liked playing him, and I really liked him, so yeah.
The Fallout series takes place 15 years after Fallout: New Vegas. Can you tease anything about what Mr. House has been up to for all that time?
Justin Theroux: What I can say is, Fallout season two will make sense for fans of the game. I think one of the things that the showrunners do really well is they take big swings when they know it’s like, “Okay, we obviously want to honor the game. We want to make sure that the fans of the game are happy,” but they also are not afraid to take swings that could be divisive or split people into factions as to whether “This is a good idea.” or “That’s a bad idea.” And I think they’re really good at knowing when to do that. I mean, even just the fact that they brought Mr. House into real life, brought him into the past, is one of those big swings.
In the game, Mr. House has some truly iconic quotes. Do you have a favorite Mr. House quote from the Fallout season two?
Justin Theroux: From the show? At some point, Mr. House calls people “Panheaded,” which I really like. That’s in his very first scene. He says something, something, something, “certain panheaded people” or something. I also love that when he refers to Cooper Howard, and he calls him “The star of the silver screen.” There are certain phrases that he has, which I think are just really funny.
And we just love to ask, what do you nerd out about in your life?
Justin Theroux: God, I nerd out about a lot of things. I mean, cliché, but I nerd out about coffee. I nerd out about, I nerd out about some alt comedy. Yeah, that is something I really like. There’s a group of people just in the world, and now it’s almost become mainstream, that sort of Portlandia sense of humor that is sort of absurdist, but it’s sort of reminiscent of French, absurdist plays and stuff. I mean, obviously Tim Robinson, who’s capturing everyone’s imagination with his hilarious brand of comedy, that kind of stuff. I really like certain standups that just do really incredible work.
Also, I used to nerd out more on video games, but less so now, just because when I think of the amount of time that I spent playing certain video games, I cringe because I’m just like, “Oh my God, I could have been doing more with my life.” But it’s not to say that I think it was time poorly spent. Call of Duty, of course, is my favorite.
New episodes of Fallout season two drop Wednesdays on Prime Video.