Amazon orders 'Fallout' TV series from Westworld's Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy

Amazon is taking a big gulp of Nuka Cola with a Fallout TV adaptation hailing from Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Based on the Bethesda Softworks-owned video game titles of the same name, the project "has been handed a series commitment," says the release.

The creative duo will produce the show with Athena Wickham under their Kilter Films company alongside Amazon Studios. Todd Howard (Bethesda Game Studios) and James Altman (Bethesda Softworks) are also attached as executive producers.

"Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time. Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends," Nolan and Joy said in a joint statement. "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."

"Over the last decade, we looked at many ways to bring Fallout to the screen,” added Howard. "But it was clear from the moment I first spoke with Jonah and Lisa a few years ago, that they and the team at Kilter were the ones to do it right. We’re enormous fans of their work and couldn’t be more excited to work with them and Amazon Studios."

Credit: Bethesda Softworks

The post-apocalyptic role-playing game series began in the late 1990s from developer/publisher Interplay Productions. Bethesda released its first Fallout title, Fallout 3, in 2008 and did away with the turn-based battle mechanic of the first two entries in favor of real-time strategy in an open world. Fallout: New Vegas (2010), Fallout 4 (2015), and Fallout 76 (2018) followed in quick succession.

In terms of setting, the games take place in an alternate reality where the Cold War-era threat of nuclear annihilation and the "atompunk" aesthetic of the Atomic Age (circa the 1950s) persisted well beyond the new millennium. An atomic war finally decimates the United States in the late 21st century, driving humans into radiation-proof Vaults.

Players assume the role of a "dweller" leaving one of the Vaults for the first time. With the option to traverse the irradiated wasteland alone or with dog, ghoul, and mercenary companions, they can meet up with other survivors, listen to '50s classics on the radio, and take down mutated monsters. The quests, collectibles, weapons, and customizable armor options are seemingly endless, with all of the character's inventory stored on a wrist device from Vault-Tec called a Pip-Boy. The company's mascot is the iconic Vault Boy, a cartoonish figure infamous for his eternal smile, wink, and thumbs up — a pose that signifies where a person is located in relation to a nuclear blast.

“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,” concluded Albert Cheng, COO and co-head of television at Amazon Studios. "We’re thrilled to join with Bethesda to bring Fallout to television."