Welcome back to the Wasteland! Fallout Season 2 is officially out, and with it comes more ghouls, more vaults, and more action in the irradiated post-apocalyptic landscape that we’ve come to love. Season 2 of the series picks up after a bit of a time jump following the heart-pounding finale of Season 1 that saw Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) donning a power suit and making his way toward New Vegas with the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) and Lucy (Ella Purnell) hot on his heels. When we return to the Ghoul and Lucy in Season 2, Episode 1, “The Innovator”, their little road trip from California to Nevada has clearly changed both of them. Although Lucy still refuses to kill — though has no issue maiming — the violent people they come across in the Wasteland, gone is the naiveté of her early days. Similarly, the Ghoul’s cold and lone wolf demeanor has melted away with his time spent with the vaultie. In an exclusive interview with Ella Purnell, we spoke with the actress about Lucy’s transformation in the season and where these changes will lead her character. After finding out about her father’s crimes, her entire worldview has shifted, and Purnell speaks about how that revelation will ripple out in Lucy’s storyline. Purnell also discusses filming alongside Goggins and how their characters interpret and change each other, while Lucy faces the ugly truths about her family and her father’s past.
Ella Purnell Reveals Lucy’s Biggest Transformation in the Wasteland in ‘Fallout’ Season 2

“Being around the Ghoul and being in the Wasteland, it’s starting to bring out the worst in her.”

Ella Purnell as Lucy smirking in the Wasteland in Fallout Season 2.Image via Prime Video

COLLIDER: I’m going to kick it off and talk a little bit about Lucy’s transformation this season. What was it like playing the loss of innocence for this character, because, in comparison to her Season 1 version, she’s very different. ELLA PURNELL: When we left Lucy at the end of Season 1, her entire world has collapsed. And I have been thinking for the last year, wondering what we’re going to do in Season 2. What that does to a person, you know? Is she gonna just lose her Lucy-ism and become this crazed Wasteland killer? Is she going to double down and and lead a revolution? How is it going to be? And, of course, it’s not black and white. It exists in the gray area, which is such a testament to the work of Geneva [Robertson-Dworset] and Graham [Wagner] and how talented and smart they are, that what a human would do in that situation is try to go back to what is familiar to them; try to go back to who they were and what they were and what they believed in. But, of course, there is a part of you that is irreversibly, irreconcilably broken, or at least changed forever. And we pick up Season 2, and for a minute, we might even think, “Oh, this hasn’t affected her in any way. She’s exactly the same.” But that’s not true, and we’ll see as this goes along. Being around the Ghoul and being in the Wasteland, it’s starting to bring out the worst in her. She’s getting impatient, she’s getting intolerant, she’s getting snappy, she’s stubborn, and she’s on her moral high horse, and she’s righteous. She’s lecturing him about things, albeit he is a challenging road trip buddy; I will give her that. But it’s very interesting to see in the first half of the season the ways that they influence each other, and how much of her experience in Season 1 is sort of this simmering pot, simmering resentment just sort of building up and up and up and is bound to, inevitably, at some point, explode.
Ella Purnell Gets Into the Complicated Relationship Between Lucy and the Ghoul in Season 2

“The things that drive you crazy are the things that you don’t like about yourself, the things you want to change.”

Ella Purnell as Lucy with Walton Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout Season 2Image via Prime Video

I think it’s really interesting that in Season 1, we do see her traveling through the Wasteland and meeting all these different characters and forming this new interpretation of the world. But in Season 2, a lot of your scenes are primarily with Walton Goggins. And what is it like focusing with one scene partner in Season 2, as opposed to multiple scene partners? PURNELL: It’s simpler, I suppose, in certain ways. Because, especially with the kinds of scenes that we’re doing, it’s a lot of travelling, you know? It’s a lot of like walking and talking. And so there’s the sort of logistical challenge of how do we make these scenes different, you know? And that’s not super hard, because it’s Fallout. Nothing is that simple and stays that simple for long. There’s always going to be some crazy plot twist or explosion, or stunt, or whatever it’s going to be. The words are so powerful, and they’re so much meaning to them, and there’s so much to be derived from each line. There’s so many shifts, even in a simple walk and talk scene. And again, very fun to think about what’s not on the page, right? Like, what’s similar about these two characters? Because the things that they hate the most about each other are probably things that they resent about themselves, right? That’s what happens in life is relationships are a mirror being held up to yourself. The things that drive you crazy are the things that you don’t like about yourself, the things you want to change. And so how does that apply to these people with these wildly different stakes and this crazy post-apocalyptic Wasteland that we haven’t experienced? And how do they handle stress? How do they handle pressure? This is a life and death situation, you know? It’s not an average walk in the park for you or me. And how do they adapt to these changing, stressful conditions?
Ella Purnell Explains Lucy’s Doubts About Herself in ‘Fallout’ Season 2

“What else am I wrong about? Can I trust myself?”

I think it’s interesting that you talk about sort of them seeing each other in the other because there was a moment in Season 1 where the Ghoul basically says, “I’m you, but just give it some time.” And it actually makes me think, is that something that Lucy is concerned about? Not only becoming like the Ghoul, but also becoming like her father, who, you know, arguably might be worse in comparison. But is that something that you think is in the back of her mind at all times? PURNEL: Yeah, 100%. As well as this thought, this doubt that’s there of, “If I was so wrong about my father and everything I was raised on, the beliefs, the ideals of who I am, my core values, everything I thought I knew, the man that I loved and looked up to, if I was that wrong about this person and he is a monster, not just a bad guy, but a monster, what else am I wrong about? Can I trust myself? Can I trust my judgment? What is real and what isn’t real?” That undercuts everything. Every decision you make. What you choose to eat, what you wear, what music you like, and the way you conduct yourself. I think that, coupled with the Ghoul’s words, “I’m you, sweetie, just give it time,” that haunts her. And she might double down and pull up her britches and carry on with it, but that is there. And I’ve said this before, but I think everything that’s happened to her is this sort of simmering thing, this pot that’s on boil that is going to explode at any given point, and inevitably at some point in the season, it does. New Fallout Season 2 episodes premiere every Wednesday on Prime Video.

Release Date

April 10, 2024

Showrunner

Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan

Writers

Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan

Franchise(s)

Fallout