Fallout on Amazon Prime is a wonderful adaptation of its source material. It perfectly brings in aspects of the video games and tells a story that connects with but isn’t inextricably tied to the games, allowing players and non-players alike to enjoy the show all the same.
In terms of pure television, it’s great there, too. This has nothing to do with the level of adaptation, though. It’s well-written, well-acted, and features great characters. Interestingly, one of the most complex characters in the show’s actor is not and will not be playing the games the show is based on.
Aaron Moten Won’t Play Fallout
Aaron Moten plays Maximus, who is one of the most fascinating and excellent characters in Fallout, a show full of fascinating and excellent characters. His portrayal is fantastic, bringing depth and humanity to a character that could’ve just been a static archetype.
This is not because Moten has an intimate knowledge of the video games, though. Via Games Radar, he revealed that he has essentially forbidden himself from playing them at this point, and it’s not because he doesn’t like to play video games.
“I am a gamer; I really enjoy taking a break from watching TV and movies. It’s work for me, and I really have a hard time turning that brain off when becoming a viewer,” Moten said via GamesRadar. “I have not played ‘Fallout,’ but I have watched Twitch streams, you know, I’ve watched others play it. But, partly, I forbid myself from playing it at this point. It’s our job to bring a sense of humanity to these three characters.”
Essentially, Moten doesn’t want Maximus to become a caricature of the games. As deep as a video game narrative can be, it’s very different from TV or a movie. Characters in Fallout games can be and are great, but the actor doesn’t want that to influence his portrayal of Maximus.
This sort of echoes the sentiment that Walton Goggins has. In December, he said via PC Gamer, “No, I haven’t sat down to play the games. And I won’t. I won’t. I won’t play the games. I’m not interested.” It’s for a similar reason that Moten has.
“All of a sudden, I’m looking at this world from a very different perspective, and as something on a screen in which I am an avatar in. I don’t believe that I’m an avatar. I believe The Ghoul exists in the world. I believe that Cooper Howard exists in the world,” Goggins said.
“The best way that I can serve this world and serve the fans of this game, I think, is to go to work every single day and believe the circumstances that I’m presented with,” The White Lotus star said. If he plays the games, he runs the risk of doing what Moten didn’t want to and allowing his portrayal of what is supposed to essentially be a real person be influenced by the game.
Sometimes, this can be for better or worse. It’s usually not a good idea to portray characters from games without having played the games. It’s why so many video game adaptations have failed in the past. However, since Maximus and The Ghoul are Fallout characters only in the show, it’s a little different. It’d be another story if they were playing Courier Six or Robert House, characters that exist in one of the games.
This is also in contrast to Ella Purnell, who is playing Lucy MacLean. She played Fallout 4 to prepare for the show, although she admitted she wasn’t very good at it. Either way, no method seems to be better than the other, because all three actors have done a wonderful job.
Conclusion
To play or not to play Fallout games, that seems to be the question. Aaron Moten still isn’t going to, although in the report on Walton Goggins not playing from December, it was noted that Moten planned to play them eventually. As of now, though, he has forbidden himself. Maybe when the show has run its course.
