“Really wanted to go to New Vegas”: Fallout EP talks about advising showrunners to skip the iconic location in Season 1

When Fallout made its debut on Amazon Prime Video, many longtime fans of the games expected the show to dive straight into one of the franchise’s most iconic locations: Fallout: New Vegas. Both the Mojave Wasteland and the neon-noir city of New Vegas are widely considered to be some of the most iconic locations in the franchise. Still, the show decided to tell its story from a different place after all, first focusing on Los Angeles and the rest of this post-apocalyptic world.

That choice was no accident. Executive producer at Bethesda, Todd Howard, confirmed that the series was originally intended to include New Vegas, even in Season 1, but the creative team ultimately changed course. Howard advised them to hold back. His reasoning was simple: To open the door to such a dense, landmark-filled location before establishing the world of Fallout would only likely confuse new players unfamiliar with the games.

Why New Vegas was initially intended for Season 1 of Fallout

In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Todd Howard spoke about how showrunners were excited to use the Mojave setting right away. For fans of the games, the place holds significant nostalgia value and narrative weight. But that same importance also made it risky.

“The writers really wanted to go to New Vegas. They actually wanted to go there in the early early pitches of season 1, and I said, ‘I would save that. That's such an iconic thing for Fallout — let's establish the base, and then we can go to New Vegas.’”

What Howard was saying in that quote is that New Vegas is best enjoyed when you have an understanding of the world it existed in. The Fallout world has vault dwellers, mutated animals and humans, warring factions, and intricate political systems that have developed post-nuclear war. Without that context, the importance of New Vegas and the power struggles around it could be something new spectators might miss.

In the games, especially Fallout: New Vegas, the area features diverging storylines, significant factions, and characters that can have different outcomes based on player decisions. Bringing that complexity to television calls for some context in storytelling.

“I thought they did a really, really good job in taking it there because it's tricky. You have an iconic area, a beloved game, particular storylines end in different ways, really strong characters...and there are a million ways to f**ck that up. And so it can be a bit of a minefield, right? And I thought they did a great job.”

Multiple endings and different alliances allow players to decide the fate of the Mojave Wasteland. A TV adaptation must pick an angle and still appease fans who played the story in different ways. That’s why Howard thought going into New Vegas in the first season might not have worked as effectively.

The showrunners are now taking their time establishing the larger world of Fallout

The first season, the series allowed new viewers to learn the rules of the wasteland, how vaults work, how survivors organize, and why certain places have mythic status among fans. Once viewers understood the world, the narrative could venture into more iconic territory.

Trending

Howard later commended the showrunners for taking that advice. Postponing New Vegas allowed the series to develop steam and establish an audience before turning to one of the franchise’s most loved locales. The outcome was a series that catered to the needs of the long-time gamer as well as the first-time show audience.

So when the Mojave and New Vegas came into, well, play, our audience already had a firm grasp on brain games. This strategy allowed the show to distinguish itself from other video-game adaptations, as the world-building matters more than simply revisiting fan-favorite locations, and that is the reason the series got so popular.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback