Fallout TV show star Walton Goggins intentionally chose not to play Fallout, even after getting the job

Apr. 8, 2024

Exclusive: Walton Goggins talks Fallout, Ghouls, and creating a story that’s canon

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Walton Goggins had never played Fallout before he was cast in the TV adaptation – and didn’t want to even after the fact.

“I never played the game. So when this kind of came my way, I didn’t want to play it ‘cause I didn’t want to be influenced by whatever version of the Ghoul is in the games. I also knew that what Jonathan and Graham and Geneva, our writers, what they were attempting to do,” Goggins tells GamesRadar+. “What they were asked to do was not to recreate a season or an issue, I suppose of Fallout the game, but to introduce a new story that would fit seamlessly into the canon that is Fallout.”

Goggins plays Cooper Howard aka The Ghoul, a mutated bounty hunter who styles himself as a cowboy (and is impossibly cool) in Prime Video’s TV adaptation. In the video game franchise, ghouls are a race of posthuman beings who have been severely disfigured due to irradiation – with some living alongside the general population and others becoming completely and totally feral and terrifying.

Helmed by Westworld co-creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, Fallout sees a young Vault Dweller named Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) journey to the surface for the very first time in order to save her kidnapped father (Kyle MacLachlan). When Lucy comes to face to face with The Ghoul, total chaos ensues.

Fallout hits Prime Video on April 11. For more, check out the rest of our coverage:

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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent’s Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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