Todd Howard says everything in the Fallout TV show is canon

Fallout
(Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)

Bethesda director Todd Howard has revealed that everything in the Fallout TV show is canon. . 

"We view what’s happening in the show as canon," Howard told Vanity Fair. "That's what's great, when someone else looks at your work and then translates it in some fashion."

Plus, it sounds like the TV show is so good that Howard is actually jealous of its take on the source material. "I sort of looked at it like, 'Ah, why didn't we do that?'" he admitted. 

Westworld's Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are adapting the game series into a new TV show for Amazon Prime Video. The games focus on a post-apocalyptic version of America, following a nuclear war (hence the name). Howard is executive producing.

This isn't the first time Howard has been approached about adapting the Fallout games, either, but, as he told the publication, this is the right project. "I've taken countless meetings with producers, or heard pitches, and nothing ever felt like the right fit," he commented. "Or maybe I was [wondering] a little, How will it affect the franchise? I took a very cautious approach."

By all accounts, then, the franchise is in very safe hands. The show will see a global nuclear war break out in 2077, with the story then jumping forwards by 219 years and focusing on Ella Purnell's Lucy, who has lived her entire life in a vault deep underground. Lucy is eventually forced to go up to the surface, which has turned into a nightmare of mutant creatures, massive insects, and nasty human survivors. 

Along with Purnell, the show stars Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan, and Johnny Pemberton, and is set for release April 12, 2024. 

As for Bethesda, the company's most recent release is the spacefaring Starfield

While you wait for Fallout, check out our guide to all the best TV shows on Amazon Prime Video to stream now. 

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

Read more
Fallout
Following Fallout TV show's win at the Game Awards, the producer jokingly thanks New Vegas fans for "not burning down my house" and promises they will be "thankful" for what's coming in season 2
Fallout season 2: Walton Goggins as The Ghoul in Prime Video's show, Fallout.
Fallout season 2 release date speculation, cast, news, and everything we know so far
Fallout
Fallout season 2’s dazzling and dystopian New Vegas is coming to life in a new leaked video
Fallout
Fallout season 2 is even better than the "extraordinary" season 1 says Walton Goggins: "It’s really gonna be something"
Fallout 5: A picture of Vault Boy giving a thumbs up in front of a closed vault from the Fallout games.
Fallout 5: Everything we know so far, and what we hope to see
Fallout
No one is going to predict what happens in Fallout season 2, teases Ella Purnell: "There's some big twists"
Latest in Action Shows
Daredevil: Born Again
Marvel fans think that Daredevil: Born Again episode 3 just referenced Spider-Man's Miles Morales – but a key detail might have already debunked the theory
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again fans are reeling at episode 3's "brutal" ending: "It made me gasp in shock"
Daredevil's mask in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again's end credits just paid a perfect tribute to episode 3's slain character
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again had Disney Plus' biggest premiere of 2025, but its viewership is lower than Agatha All Along and The Acolyte
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
Daredevil: Born Again
Who killed [SPOILER] in Daredevil: Born Again episode 3?
Latest in News
Balatro Joker card
After stepping away from Balatro for 3 months, the developer only resumed work "because I was bored but the internet was out so I couldn't play Rocket League"
Shots of Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread in play
RPG board game designer's revelation was searching for a D&D quick start guide to find "You needed to pull together lots of different pieces in order to play"
Indy in Ben Leonberg's haunted house horror Good Boy
Good Boy, a new scary movie told from a dog's POV, is being called "one of the best horror films of the year"
Doctor Doom in Marvel Comics
The Russo brothers say Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars will draw inspiration from multiple comics – which explains how Doctor Doom might fit into the story
Daredevil: Born Again
Marvel fans think that Daredevil: Born Again episode 3 just referenced Spider-Man's Miles Morales – but a key detail might have already debunked the theory
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again fans are reeling at episode 3's "brutal" ending: "It made me gasp in shock"