As comic relief is an integral part of the story, Nolan had to approach the script with a certain amount of flexibility, as “Fallout” is not just a tale about the end of things as we know it, but the advent of a new era that is morbid, wacky, and hopeful in its own right:
“It’s also the closest I’ve come to working with comedy in my career. We’re usually a word-perfect production — you have the script, it’s been worked on meticulously, let’s shoot what’s on the page. With comedy, you have to be more flexible. You have to embrace the chaos a little bit … We’re in a moment right now, where things are so fu**ing dire in the world, that to have a show that doubles down on that would be a little scary. One of the things about ‘Fallout’, it’s not the end of the world, it’s about all these beginnings for a new world.
Nolan also went on to emphasize the importance of a post-apocalyptic tale that does not “feel dour” even when depicting something terrifying, such as the treatment of overwhelming bleakness in “Fallout 3,” which is perenially interspersed with dark humor and sharp satire:
“The sense of humor and irony [in ‘Fallout 3’] and the cutting level of satire and this depiction of an Eisenhower-era America that never lost its swagger that kept lumbering forward … it just had a unique tone. It’s political. It has a crazy point of view, and it’s crazy violent.”
The hope for a new future, and the possibility for mankind to “adapt and move on” is essential for a post-apocalyptic drama like “Fallout,” which is set to premiere on April 11, 2024, on Prime Video.