When Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten signed on for Prime Video’s “Fallout,” they were only vaguely familiar with the popular Bethesda video game franchise.
However, their interest was immediately piqued when they enter into the series’ scripts and encountered the intricate characters of Vault dweller Lucy and Brotherhood of Steel soldier Maximus.
“I just thought the script was hilarious and amazing. I wanted to watch it, so therefore had to be a part of it,”
Purnell told TheWrap.
“With Lucy, I think it was an exciting place to start as this fresh out of the vault, naive, innocent woman who has so much more to her than meets the eye. I knew she was trained, I knew she knew how to handle a gun and I knew she was tough and educated and smart. I wanted to put her in the Wasteland and see what happens. I just kind of jumped and hoped the net would catch me.”
Moten, on the other hand, found himself drawn to portraying Maximus, a young man grappling with his role within the Brotherhood of Steel.
“He’s ambitious. It reminded me of that Shakespeare description of Cassius and Julius Caesar where he’s like a hungry dog, he just is always wanting of something,” he explained. “He has issues with right and wrong because he’s in a world that’s based off of survival first and it’s a harsh reality.”
For Moten, one of the most thrilling aspects of the “Fallout” series was acting alongside the Power Armor soldiers.
“[Jonathan Nolan’s] filmmaker language is about the practical aspects of things. So having such a monster, seven-foot-six or however tall it is, walking through a crowd of people and following in tow behind it, you see how it makes us all react,” Moten said. “It’s a real joy to work across from it, because there’s also this constant element of mystery with the suit, staring at the face of it, until you’re given some kind of voice from it. You have no idea what the person inside is thinking or what’s going on with them. It’s a constant negotiation as to how to read a sign off of it.”
He emphasized that wearing the armor is a much different experience.
“It’s the heaviest thing you can imagine,” he said. “At first it feels really fun, but it is extremely taxing through a long shoot day… It’s a really fun struggle. It’s not your typical day at work.”
Despite their differing backgrounds, Moten noted that Lucy and Maximus share a connection through their circumstances.
“I think they’re both in the dark as to what is really going on and that connects them, that desire to find out what is happening,” Moten said. “[Lucy and Maximus] have such a different, 180 opinion about different things that we see or say. A lot of the comedy comes out of that, but also a lot of the tragedy and a lot of the weirdness of what growing up in the Wasteland your entire life is for Maximus, versus how strange it is to be a person who grew up in a Vault and says the things that Lucy says would be.”
Purnell expressed her excitement for audiences to witness how Lucy and Maximus influence each other, as well as their interactions with The Ghoul/Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), especially in the second half of the season.
“They have a lot to learn from each other, and all of the lessons they learn from each other directly impact their future, the outcome, the choices that they make, which is huge,” she said. “What brings all three of the characters together as they’re looking for this artifact that has the power to radically change the power dynamics on the surface, and their reasons [to find it] might be different, but I think they have more in common than they think.”
All episodes of “Fallout” are now streaming on Prime Video.
