Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Last of UsThe immediate success of HBO's adaptation of Fallout TV show are misplaced. While the video games that provide both show's source material were produced by different studios, they both depict post-apocalyptic worlds where characters must make complex moral choices. Already, The Last of Us has resonated with fans of the original game and TV audiences who never played the games alike, proving once and for all that good video game adaptations are possible, given the correct treatment.
This bodes well for the Fallout show, from Westworld's executive producers Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan and starring Walton Goggins. The Fallout TV show's casting was an early indicator of quality, given Goggins' existing resume of excellent work in shows like The Shield and Justified. Now that The Last of Us has proved that great videogame adaptations are possible, the concerns over whether a Fallout TV show should now finally be put to rest. Here's what the success of The Last of Us could mean what for Prime Video's Fallout adaptation.
The Last Of Us Proves Fallout Needs To Be A TV Show
As a game, The Last of Us has a more linear storyline than that of the Fallout franchise, so the adaptation could easily have ended up as a movie. That said, the emotion of the story of Joel and Ellie works so well in the game because of the amount of time that the player spends with them. Therefore, the emotional impact of their journey may have been lessened by a 90-minute movie. A TV show is a much better format for The Last of Us adaptation because it allows the characters and the story they require to breathe, and gives audiences a more in-depth look at their internal lives.
The episodic structure of The Last of Us is also ideal for the destination-led storytelling of the game's original story. The Fallout franchise is a much bigger experience than The Last of Us, due to the game's open-world setting and extensive side-missions. As a result, TV is the perfect medium for faithfully adapting the Fallout games as the series can have a main storyline at the core, with various subplots based on side-missions from the game forming the bulk of each episode's plot.
The Last Of Us Shows How Fallout's Story Can Expand Beyond The Games
Opening with a scene in which John Hannah's 1960s scientist set up the fungal infection that would prove to be humanity's downfall, The Last of Us established that it was interested in the world beyond the original game. It's still telling the core story of Joel and Ellie's journey to find the Fireflies, but also exploring the context behind why Ellie's immunity from infection is so important. It also makes some changes to the source material, such as in the story of Tess, who was actually killed by FEDRA agents in the game, whereas she becomes one of the infected in the show.
This change was presumably to allow the reveal of FEDRA's intentions to be deployed at a later point for a more dramatic impact. All of this shows that the Fallout TV show could also expand its storytelling from the original source material to better explore the context of how its ruined world came to be. As with The Last of Us, this would allow Fallout to stay faithful to the tone of the original games, while also telling a slightly different story that would still be able to surprise those players who believe they know where the story is going.