Fallout TV series set at Amazon from Westworld creators

In the latest update to the trend of TV adaptions of popular videogames, Fallout has become the next to join the ranks.

HBO's Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have locked a deal to develop the gaming franchise into a new series for Amazon, the games' developers and publishers at Bethesda announced on Thursday with help from a brief teaser video.

The duo are trading a robotic apocalypse for a nuclear one. Fallout takes its name and inspiration from the end times Americans in the late 1940s once feared. Set far in the future in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear war in the year 2077, Earth's terrain has been warped into a harsh wasteland overrun by mutants. The latest entry, Fallout 76, was released in October 2018.

When not writing for TV, Joy and Nolan are avid gamers and they haven't been shy about revealing some of the inspirations that influenced their work. During a 2016 panel at New York Comic-Con, the duo shared how they tapped Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto to inform elements of Westworld.

"Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time," Joy and Nolan said in a joint statement. "Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we're incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios."

The creators are developing the Fallout series through their Kilter Films banner. Howard from Bethesda Game Studios will be executive producing the project, which has a series commitment at Amazon. Athena Wickham of Kilter Films and James Altman of Bethesda Softworks are also on board as EPs.

“Fallout is an iconic global franchise, with legions of fans worldwide and a rich, deeply compelling storyline that powers it. And Jonah and Lisa are the perfect storytellers to bring this series to life,” Albert Cheng, COO and Co-Head of Television at Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to join with Bethesda to bring Fallout to television."

Many movies based on videogames in the past were plagued by the "videogame movie curse," meaning many of them just haven't worked as films. But more creatives are hoping to find success in adapting them as serialized TV series. HBO is currently in development on adapting The Last of Us into a show with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and the games' writer-creative director Neil Druckmann. Meanwhile, Netflix is working on an anime series inspired by the world of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, and Showtime has the Halo TV series.

Videogame-movie adaptations are still churning, regardless. Sonic the Hedgehog became a success for Paramount. Director Eli Roth is also adapting Borderlands as a film with star Cate Blanchett, and Tom Holland's Uncharted would've started filming by now if it wasn't for the coronavirus.

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