Previous attempts to pitch an adaptation of Fallout have apparently stalled because current rights-holder Bethesda isn't interested in a movie or TV show that retells a story the games have already told. The showrunners of the upcoming Amazon Prime TV show got around that by pitching something new, they said in an interview with Total Film. "From the first conversation with Todd [Howard] we were most excited about an original story," said executive producer Jonathan Nolan.
While the trailer is full of the kind of imagery that's been used and reused in the games, from a Vault dweller stepping into sunlight to the Brotherhood of Steel in their power armor and even Dogmeat, it is telling a new story—one with a new cast of characters, played by Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan, and others. Nolan compared it to his work on the Dark Knight movies, which he cowrote with his brother Christopher Nolan.
