Fallout TV series co-creator Jonathan Nolan said he would have been on a "fool's errand" if he had set out to please fans of Bethesda's beloved video games with his upcoming adaptation.
Speaking about the new show at a press event attended by T3, Nolan explained that appeasing fans was not his sole intention when making the Fallout series because he knew that would be an unattainable goal, so he instead focused on trying to make the "best version" of the game-to-TV-series adaptation as a fan himself.
"I don't think you really can set out to please the fans of anything. Or please anyone other than yourself," Nolan asserted. "I think you have to come into this trying to make the show that you want to make and trusting that, as fans of the game [ourselves], we would find the pieces that were essential to us... and try to do the best version."
He added: "It's kind of a fool's errand to try to figure out how to make [other] people happy... You've got to make yourself happy. And I've made myself very happy with the show."
While he didn't want to make the show strictly about fan service, Nolan admitted he loves the post-apocalyptic action RPG series and has spent an enormous amount of time playing in that universe, so when the opportunity arose for him to work on the adaptation, he was excited to create a new take on the iconic franchise.
"It started, for me, with Fallout 3, which devoured about a year of my life," Nolan said, recalling the moment he found and got hooked on the games. "I was an aspiring young writer at that point, and it almost derailed my entire career. It's so ludicrously playable and fun... seriously, the games were just incredible.
"It's such a rare and unbelievable thing that I've gotten to do twice in my career, to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe, to create your own version," he continued. "The first go-round for me was Batman, and this time with Fallout — a series of games that I absolutely loved."
The entire first season of Fallout hits Amazon Prime Video on April 11, 2024, and is said to be a "non-interactive version" of Fallout 5. However, Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard told producers what elements they couldn't use because the developer plans to include them in the fifth game in the series.
The first trailer for the series gave fans a look at just how much of the game is in the show, including glimpses of the New California Republic (NCR), a group heavily featured in Fallout: New Vegas, and the long-standing military faction known as the Brotherhood of Steel (BoS), which sparked an early debate about the adaptation.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
