What you need to know
- The Fallout TV series premiered on Prime Video on April 10, 2024.
- Since then, it's become one of the top three most-watched shows on the streaming service.
- Fallout is being renewed for a second season at Prime Video.
- The series has received critical praise and has helped cause a resurgence in Fallout game player counts.
Prime Video viewers will be returning to the Wasteland.
Fallout, a TV series based on the game franchise of the same name, is officially renewed for Season 2. In a press release confirming the order of a second season, Amazon MGM Studios shared that the Fallout TV series is one of the three most-watched shows on Prime Video, and the highest-viewed series since the Rings of Power in 2022.
“Praise be to our insanely brilliant showrunners, Geneva and Graham, to our kick-ass cast, to Todd and James and all the legends at Bethesda, and to Jen, Vernon and the amazing team at Amazon for their incredible support of this show. We can’t wait to blow up the world all over again,” said Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy of Kilter Films.
Nolan and Joy served as executive producers and creators for the series, with Nolan directing the first three episodes of the eight-episode season.
“It’s been one of the most spectacular projects we’ve ever been a part of. Jonah and team did such an incredible job, and we’re overjoyed not just by the reaction to the show, but that we get to work with these amazing people even more,” said Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, one of the eight Xbox first-party studios under ZeniMax Media.
Howard was directly involved in the creation of the series alongside James Altman, director of publishing operations at publisher Bethesda Softworks.
In our review of the Fallout TV series' first season, I wrote that "Fallout represents some of the best of what game-to-TV adaptions can offer, carrying forward the look, action, and ideas of the iconic franchise while providing multiple viewpoints in a season that'll leave fans and newcomers alike wanting more."
I also spoke to Nolan, the showrunners, and some of the cast about the process of adapting Fallout into a TV series.
What does this mean for Fallout and Prime Video?
The launch of the Fallout TV series helped cause a resurgence in player numbers across the franchise, especially in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, the two most recent games in the series that were both developed by Bethesda Game Studios.
"Congrats to everyone involved—we're thrilled to welcome so many newcomers to the world of @Fallout. From the highly rated show now getting its second season, to our deep lineup of Fallout games across consoles, PC, and mobile, thank you all for joining us in the wasteland," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer via Twitter.
With the Fallout TV series being such a huge hit, Prime Video and Bethesda Game Studios will naturally be capitalizing on its success with a second season. As we've previously seen established, a popular TV adaption of a game property can result in a synergistic effect that boosts both sides. Amazon gets a ridiculously popular show that people will subscribe to Prime Video in order to watch, while Bethesda gets more players in one of its biggest franchises.
Analysis: Xbox has a cross-media hit
Everyone at Prime Video, Kilter Films, Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, and Microsoft Gaming has to be thrilled with how this has gone. The show is well-received, which feeds the games, which in turn feeds the show, and round and round we go. A second season will allow everyone involved to further build on that synergy and further benefit.
By far the biggest challenge facing Bethesda and Microsoft is the fact that the next mainline Fallout game is a long ways off. Fallout 76 continues to see support, and Fallout 4 is getting a current-generation update, all of which will certainly help, but eventually, a new game will be needed in order to really take advantage of the boost in popularity the TV series is providing.
Optimistically, we might get Fallout 5 in 10 years. Even with how long TV shows take to make now — I wouldn't expect Season 2 of Fallout until 2026 — that's just a long, long, LONG, time to wait.
Maybe we'll see Obsidian Entertainment or another studio release a spin-off game sometime sooner?
