‘Fallout’ Cast & Creators On Navigating Complicated Characters In S2

If there’s one thing for certain about the world of Prime Video‘s Fallout, it’s that there is no shortage of complicated characters.

“I think coming out of Season 1, we were so excited to see what would happen when Lucy, the most moral character in our show, and the Ghoul, the most immoral character, were paired up and which of them would rub off on the other more,” showrunner and executive producer Geneva Robertson-Dworet said during Deadline’s Contenders TV panel on Saturday. “And of course, the thing that I enjoy most about watching this is how Ella [Purnell] and Walton [Goggins] played [it], how much they influence each other over the course of the season. Really, it is a give and take between the two of them.”

The series returned earlier this year for Season 2, taking viewers on a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas. The pair are, of course, in search of Lucy’s father, Hank (played by Kyle MacLachlan). Despite being presented as a loving father, Hank was revealed at the end of Season 1 to be a ruthless, pre-war Vault-Tec executive who is responsible for the nuclear destruction of Shady Sands.

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“Hank is a beautifully complicated man, but honestly, the writing is so great, I’ve been able to find justification for every thing that he does, and it makes complete sense in my mind,” MacLachlan said. “He is the kind of guy that brings a gun to a knife fight, I’ll be first to admit, but he loves his daughter beyond everything else, and I think that’s been the core of his character, and the writing has been supportive of that.”

Also on stage at Contenders TV were director and executive producer Lisa Joy as well as stars Aaron Moten and Frances Turner, both of whom deal with some complex character material themselves in Season 2. Turner plays Barb Howard, a high-ranking Vault-Tec exec and, believe it or not, the Ghoul’s wife. While Lucy is in search of her father to hold him accountable, the Ghoul is tagging along in search of his family in the aftermath of the nuclear fallout.

Turner says she knew “absolutely nothing” about where Barb’s story was going when she took the role.

“I wasn’t aware of the heel turn in the first season, and I wasn’t aware of the heel turn in the second season. But all of it made sense, if you just follow the story as it unfolds,” she continued. “Barb made complete sense to me, and I trusted every step of the way that she wasn’t lying when she said she was trying to protect her daughter [and] her husband in the face of the inevitability of the world ending.”

Meanwhile Moten’s Maximus is a Brotherhood of Steel soldier navigating his loyalty to the faction and struggling with some of his previous actions as he comes to terms with his own moral compass. Moten calls it “a bit of a journey for him of understanding how he can affect the world around him.”

Fallout is based on a video game, but the story that Robertson-Dworet and the creative team have spun up for the television series is original, which gives them the opportunity to build most of these characters from the ground up alongside the actors who play them. That’s exactly what they’ve done, she says.

“One of the reasons I really wanted to collaborate with Lisa and Jonah on this show is because they make the most morally complicated shows,” Robertson-Dworet explained. “These three actors do such a phenomenal job making you care so deeply and see the humanity in very flawed individuals who are struggling to find ways to make the world a better place or care for the people they love, even in an incredibly violent, tricky world and situation. So I’m just so grateful for these incredibly brave actors, because so often you collaborate with people who don’t want to play villains or people who are complicated.”

Check back Monday for the panel video.