Amazon Announces a Fallout Original Series from the Creators of Westworld

Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan are working on an Amazon Original Series set in Bethesda’s Fallout videogame franchise, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard, who has directed and produced many games in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, will act as executive producer for the series alongside Joy and Nolan. Kilter Films’ Athena Wickham and Bethesda Softworks’ James Altman are also executive producing for the show.

The show’s script is still being developed, but it has a series commitment penalty which means that if Amazon likes it, it will go straight into production instead of having a pilot episode first. It also means that if Amazon turns it down, those involved will still get paid as much as if they’d gone ahead and made the show. So it’s not a guarantee that the show will be greenlit, but this seems to suggest there’s a pretty good chance.

#PleaseStandBy. @AmazonStudios#KilterFilmspic.twitter.com/7YmLZKIPAe

— Fallout (@Fallout) July 2, 2020

“Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time,” Joy and Nolan wrote in a 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.”

This is Amazon’s first attempt at making a videogame adaptation — although not its first attempt at making a videogame — but other outlets are beginning to do the same. Earlier this year, HBO announced that it was working on an adaptation of The Last of Us, and Netflix’s The Witcher series, although adapting the books and not the games, saw massive success with a second season on the way.