Amazon’s Fallout TV show is one of the best examples of converting a video game to a TV show, although it’s not perfect. A canon entry in the RPG’s timeline, the ongoing series has been widely celebrated with New Vegas lead Josh Sawyer recently explaining that they’re a fan of the series.
Fallout 2 designer and New Vegas senior writer Chris Avellone doesn’t despise the ongoing TV show, although they have not finished it. Speaking to Insider Gaming as part of their YouTube series, Avellone explained that the likes of Walton Goggins “added a lot of legitimacy to the show”, as well as others, but the show simply “wasn’t coming through” for them.
While the New Vegas writer has watched some of the show, there is a sense that it’s not as well-written as some of the material that inspired the Fallout series. While very tongue-in-cheek, Fallout, especially the second game and New Vegas, are dense, well-written, thought-out worlds with deep dialogue between the stupendous.
“I think, over time, people are realising, ‘hey, this is a big business’. I kinda wish the game writer for TV shows like that where they’re mimicking a game, they would kinda elevate a bit,” he continued. “I think [Cyberpunk] Edgerunners was really cool—like, no problems there—but sometimes I just wish the script quality on the Fallout TV show was a little higher.”
Avellone explained that they “feel embarrassed when I see some of the lines being done”, although they admit it’s more of a “fun show”. With that said, they worry there’s a tendency to dismiss the text of a video game during adaptation, maybe not entirely with Fallout, but across the game-to-film pipeline.
“I’m over 50 and I have to make oxygen choices for what to do with my time.”
Chris Avellone on Fallout Season 2
“I don’t mean to put all Hollywood writers in this category, but I think some of them still struggle with, ‘okay, well I’m writing a game franchise and obviously those game writers didn’t really know what they were doing because I’ma respected Hollywood writer and I know how these things are supposed to work’. So, I think it, for some of them, it’s really easy to dismiss that work and go in their own direction, which they think is more solid.
“The problem is when they do that, they don’t have any sense of like, they probably haven’t played Fallout 3 or Fallout 4 or New Vegas,” he continued. “So, a lot of the context is gone, as well as opportunities.”
Avellone stresses that this isn’t the case for all Hollywood writers, although its been evident in adaptations like Halo or any one of Uwe Boll’s terrible game adaptations. The Fallout veteran explains that many in the film industry “just want to rush off and do their own take on what they believe it is and they want to make it their own”.
The Fallout veteran explains that this “creates a lot of missed opportunities”. Diving deep into the lore, digging deep to find new stories to explore, allows for more exciting tales for both writers and fans.
“I tried to watch season two all the way through,” Avellone said. “I got to the beginning of Episode 3 and I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped because, you know, I’m over 50 and I have to make oxygen choices for what to do with my time, and that show just wasn’t coming through for me.”
While Avellone couldn’t finish the Fallout TV show, they are seemingly happy that the show will be diving into their cancelled Van Buren project for the third season. “I got to tell you, it is the most flattering thing in the world to know that fans were so excited to see that element that they’re willing to flesh it out on their own.”
While Fallout is still ongoing, there are also a host of video game adaptations in the works right now. For example, Weapons director Zach Cregger is working on a new Resident Evil movie and HBO is making a Baldur’s Gate 3 series. Right now, after the era of superheroes, it seems that video game movies are the star of Hollywood, and they’re gonna keep coming.
