Fallout Series Gets Its Air Date

It might not be October 23rd, 2077, but explosive news hit us like an aftershock yesterday. Well, I say the news did, but that was after some of us had to work out if it was April or December. I get that a large portion of Asia does year-month-day, and weird places like Canada don’t have a standard and thus do all three options. However, the rest of the world agrees, dates are formatted day-month-year. It is only the U.S., and weird-lovely places like Puerto Rico, that do this month-day-year thing.

Anyway, some of us have accepted that we’re heading toward a nuclear apocalypse, and it seems it will be coming on April 12th, 2024. The Fallout TV series from Amazon is something I think I’m bouncing back and forth on. Not because I’m such a fan or something stupid, it is simply the reputation that live-action (or animated) adaptations have going from player-controller to showrunner-led. That is a reputation that is sort of changing with the likes of The Last of Us (minus that horrible ending), the 90s Sonic cartoons, Carmen Sandiego, and a select few I haven’t mentioned.

That said, other than casting decisions like the fantastic Walton Goggins and the brilliantly evil Kyle MacLachlan, there is very little to go on. I say little, I’m purposefully overlooking Geneve Robertson-Dworet’s role as co-showrunner for being involved with that crappy 2018 Tomb Raider film which uses the new series as its base, and the often maligned Captain Marvel, even if I thought it was fine. She is joined in the role by Graham Wagner, who did some of The Office both as writer and director, a good bit of Portlandia, and some Silicon Valley.

We also know that it was developed by Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan and his wife Lisa Joy. The couple also developed Westworld for HBO, while Jonathan did some writing work for his brother’s projects such as The Prestige and The Dark Knight trilogy. Joy did three episodes of the brilliant Pushing Daisies, as well as writing, directing, and producing the Hugh Jackman-led bomb that was Reminiscence. At least they can collectively get the October 23rd part right.

With no trailer to speak of right now other than the one with the date around the wrong way, that’s all we know. There are glimpses of set photos depicting a dilapidated Red Rocket, some of a vault, and maybe even the Super-duper Mart. The premise so far is just that of Fallout: The Elevator Pitch, as well as lesser-known actors and vague names to pluck at. Joy did say that the show would be “a gonzo, crazy, funny, adventure, and mindf*ck like none you’ve ever seen before,” but that’s just buzzwords to get people excited.

I’m trepidacious (nice to meet you) that Fallout will be good, and I don’t mean widely accepted by the fandom because they are an implacable bunch at the best of times. That is unless Feargus Urquhart and Josh Sawyer get their genitals out. I’ll admit that I like some absolute trash that is fun, I’m one of three people to enjoy “Love & Monsters,” but given the history of both its creators and the series’ recent history, I don’t know if I truly should be excited. Ultimately, time will tell as we near April 12th, 2024.