“He becomes our guide and our protagonist in that [older] world, even as we understand him to be the antagonist at the end of the world,” Nolan explains.
Not only does that set-up mean that Goggins’ character will be able to more easily interact with the show’s other major characters (and explore more than just the typical Ghoul spaces of society), but it confirms that Goggins’ Ghoul will be so much more than just a feral monster. Perhaps more importantly, though, Nolan also revealed that they intentionally dialed back on The Ghoul’s prosthetics in order to ensure that Goggins’ performance comes through all that makeup. As Nolan explains, the team didn’t want to hinder the reasons they cast Goggins in the first place by burying him in makeup.
“You have to be extremely careful with it when you’re putting a full appliance on someone’s face, because you hired that actor for a reason,” said Nolan. “Their face is their instrument. [You want] the tiny little expressions and changes that they make.”
Given that The Ghoul is described as the show’s third lead character (alongside Ella Purnell’s former vault dweller, Lucy, and Aaron Moten’s Brotherhood of Steel member, Maximus), it seems that the Fallout showrunners have no intentions of denying us the full Goggins experience. If you are like me and are seemingly always waiting for more writers, directors, and casting coordinators to realize that Goggins is one of the most unique and compelling actors working today…well, you are also probably excited about the prospect of Goggins playing a wandering bounty hunter in the compelling Fallout universe. It certainly seems like the perfect role for his many talents.
Interestingly, The Ghoul’s presence also confirms something that Bethesda’s Todd Howard directly states elsewhere in the interview: the Fallout TV series isn’t a direct adaptation of any of the Fallout games. While the show is obviously drawing heavily from numerous elements of those games (and certainly seems to be pulling quite a few visuals and narrative ideas from Fallout 3), it is described as a “unique Fallout story” set within the Fallout universe and canon. While that means that it’s theoretically possible we will see some familiar faces from the Fallout games, the fact that the show is set in LA (a location that has rarely been shown and is often just referenced in the Fallout games) suggests that the show is trying to be very much its own thing. We’ll see how it all works out, but given the exciting early details about The Ghoul, things certainly seem to be trending in the right direction.
Amazon’s Fallout series is currently set to start streaming via Amazon Prime Video on April 12, 2024.
