Prime Video struck gold earlier this year with the release of the post-apocalyptic video game adaptation movie Fallout. Part of this success can be credited to Walton Goggins. He plays the fan-favorite character Ghoul, a former Western star Cooper Howard who has become a cynical, irradiated gunslinger.
Alongside Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten, Goggins received an Emmy nomination for his role. Throughout Season 1, viewers see both sides of the character as he discovers Vault-Tec’s dark past and hunts bounties in the wasteland.
The season finale sets him on a quest to find answers about his wife and Vault-Tec in Season 2 and beyond. In an FYC interview for the show, Goggins shared his excitement about continuing his character’s journey.
Fallout ended its record-setting first season with The Ghoul and Lucy (Purnell) confronting Lucy’s father, Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan). It was revealed that Hank was responsible for the nuclear bomb dropped on Shady Sands.
Hank and Cooper had a history that goes back to before the world collapsed. With Hank still alive, Cooper hopes to find his wife, who also worked for Vault-Tec, and confront the company about their role in ending the world.
Hank flees toward New Vegas, while Lucy and the Ghoul follow him. This sets up Season 2 to delve deeper into Vault-Tec’s plans, Cooper’s past, and New Vegas’s fate after Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas.
Goggins finds the socio-economic aspect of the Fallout story fascinating. He is particularly interested in how the story addresses a corporation like Vault-Tec that controls and ruins many lives behind the scenes.
‘Fallout’ Season 2 Will Head to New Locations for Filming
Season 2 will also show how Lucy and the Ghoul work together despite their differences. Their growth will drive their quest for Hank and the remnants of Vault-Tec. Goggins told Collider:
“I’m not quite sure how that’s going to play out, but I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t be affected by the information that he has now.
I’m really interested in the socio-economic/political pull-no-punches aspect of this story and exploring this communication between two people who see the world so very differently, based on economics, privilege, and circumstances, and having a lot of information versus having no information at all, between Ella [Purnell] and me, and how they inform each other going forward in this world.
I’m curious to explore the reasons behind this consortium of people who have come together to bring about the ending of the world, the prophet, what that really means, and what that way of thinking means for the rest of us. I’m not a conspiracy theorist on any level, but if that is happening on some level and if there is an Illuminati, I don’t even know.
I just think about great food in whatever city I’m in and a great cocktail at the end of the day. But it is fascinating to me to at least hypothesize or live in a fantasy version of that.”
Goggins envisions Season 2 focusing on how The Ghoul deals with his family’s past while he and Lucy gather more clues. “I’m excited about what happened to Cooper Howard’s family, what it will mean to The Ghoul, and how he will respond to the information that he gathers over the course of the season,” he told Raddish.
This is likely to be a major plot point, while Maximus (Moten) lives as a knight in the Brotherhood of Steel and Norm (Moisés Arias) interacts with the cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec executives.
Goggins is also looking forward to returning to the fun aspects of Fallout, such as combat and exploration. “I’m also excited just to shoot some guns, man, and to be in a frame that Jonathan Nolan is directing, and to be with these actors in some really cool locations in the world.
I love to travel. I love being on the road.” Season 2 will primarily film in California, offering new possibilities that Goggins is eager to explore after enjoying Season 1’s locations. “We got to go to some pretty cool places last year, and I’m looking forward to that opportunity again this year.”
Fallout Season 1 can be watched in its entirety on Prime Video.
