‘Fallout’: Who is Walton Goggins’ ghoul character?

Against all odds, video game adaptations have reached a renaissance. While many adaptations have been maligned in the past, series such as The Last of Us have demonstrated that good stories really can happen.

Fallout is the next on the list for adaptation. Based on the highly successful video game franchise of the same name, the series plays into consumers’ fears about the end of the world. The game is inspired by post-1950s war culture and follows Vault Dwellers who, after surviving underground, must keep their bunker intact and fight off mutants.

The Amazon Prime series plays into the secluded life of a Vault Dweller as Lucy (Ella Purnell) is the first to journey out of the vault. She soon discovers that what her community believed could not be further from the truth. Outside, the world is a nuclear wasteland with remaining humans, robots, and ghouls, of course. Starring alongside Purnell is the incomparable Walton Goggins (Justified, Vice Principals, The Hateful Eight), whose bounty hunter character is a familiar face from the games.

Who is the ghoul in Fallout?

In the Fallout games, ghouls are a common sight to see. At one time, they had been human, having since been ravaged by radiation, which has also given them an extremely long life. Though some are no more than monsters, others have retained their humanity. Goggins is one of the latter. The actor explained in a preview for the new trailer, via Polygon, that his character bridges the gap between pre and post-apocalypse.

Before the nuclear devastation, Goggins’ character was a salesman by the name of Cooper Howard. He sold spaces in the Vault where survivors could avoid nuclear war. And there they stayed for 200 years. Howard evidently did not reap the benefits of his Vault spaces. Lucy encounters him in her present day as the ghoulish figure, whom Goggins describes as Virgil from Dante’s Inferno. He is there to guide the characters through this landscape while providing the charisma the actor is known for.

Unlike recent storyline character-driven adaptations, the Fallout show has original characters. Bethesda’s game doesn’t have a tightly knit emotional rollercoaster, such as Neil Druckmann’s harrowing story of love and loss in The Last of Us. The Amazon Prime series takes inspiration from the games, such as ghouls and characters from the Vault. Even so, the series seems to be on the right track so far. The trailer almost seamlessly replicates the feeling of the game, from the visual aesthetics to the music. Goggins is additionally a master of an actor who is perfect for the role.