Todd Howard: Amazon’s Fallout Series Won’t Retell Stories From the Game

While not too much is known about Amazon’s upcoming Fallout adaptation, Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard has opened up about what fans can expect from the series.

During a recent appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast (via Eurogamer), Howard — who serves as an executive producer on the upcoming series and has led development on the Fallout series since Fallout 3 — said that the upcoming Amazon series would “not be a retelling of a game story,” but instead would take place in a separate area of the game’s world map.

“Let’s tell a story here that fits in the world that we have built, doesn’t break any of the rules, can reference things in the games, but isn’t a retelling of the games,” Howard said, before noting that the show will take place in the world of Fallout, but be its own thing. “[It] exists in the same world but is its own unique thing, so it adds to it. While also, people who haven’t played the games, who can’t experience how crazy cool Fallout is, can watch the series.”

Howard also opened up about what made him sure that Amazon would be the best place for the series, noting that others wanted to simply retell stories from games like Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, whereas Amazon had a more original approach.

“When people wanted to make a movie they wanted to tell the story of Fallout 3 or tell the story of Fallout 4, and it was meh,” said Howard. “For this, it was, ‘hey let’s do something that exists within the world of Fallout.’”

Fallout is a series of role-playing games that began in 1997. Set in a post-apocalyptic 1950s-themed United States, the Fallout series puts players in the role of various wanderers and survivors as they freely traverse an American wasteland filled with mutants, radiated animals, and bandits. The next mainline title, Fallout 5, will apparently enter development once The Elder Scrolls VI is completed.