Is the Fallout TV Show Canon?

Is Prime Video’s upcoming Fallout TV series going to be canonical to the video game franchise? This is a question that numerous Fallout fans have had since Bethesda and Amazon first announced the show back in 2020. Since that time, news on Fallout has been very quiet, which has led to even more questions coming about. Fortunately, with the series now slated to hit Prime Video in the first half of 2024, some major answers are finally being provided by those in charge of the project. 

In a conversation with Vanity Fair, Fallout executive producer Todd Howard said that those within Bethesda are seeing the TV series as part of the franchise’s larger canon. Howard, who has served as the director behind Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, is said to have overseen the scripts for the show to make sure that they don’t conflict with storylines seen in the video games. Beyond this, Howard also admitted that those who have developed the TV series have gone on to make him wonder why they didn’t implement some of the same ideas. 

“We view what’s happening in the show as canon,” Howard said. “That’s what’s great, when someone else looks at your work and then translates it in some fashion. I sort of looked at it like, ‘Ah, why didn’t we do that?’”

Speaking more about how Fallout has turned out overall, Howard seems quite excited about the Prime Video show. Prior to this TV series being greenlit, Howard said that he had numerous meetings tied to other adaptations but “nothing ever felt like the right fit.” He went on to also say that he’s been very “cautious” of how any movie or TV shows based on Fallout would impact the franchise overall. To that end, Howard has been pleased to see a team come in and look to tell their own unique story set within the Fallout universe rather than simply try to adapt a story seen in one of the games. 

Currently, a proper trailer for Fallout has yet to be revealed, but Prime Video did today show off a first look at the series in an array of new images. As for the show’s release, it’s set to hit Prime Video next year on April 12, 2024, which means that more news will surely start to emerge in the coming weeks and months.