Fallout's showrunner Graham Wagner discussed the uniqueness of their show on how it's funny — yet dramatic.
Deadline talked to Wagner, who discussed the blurred lines of their show's exact nature. After all, it's dramatic, but many comical elements are also involved.
The comedy and drama in Fallout
He notes a “blurring of the lines between comedy and drama” with Fallout. This discussion occurred Wednesday after the popular Max series racked up 16 Emmy nominations.
“I don't know what was nominated for half hour, but I'm sure there was some pretty relatively serious half hours and some relatively goofy hour longs, and I'm just grateful for the breakdown of those barriers,” the showrunner said. Also, he joked saying he's “not one to tell the Academy what to do, especially in the moment I'm in right now.”
Wagner added, “But at the same time…I've actually felt for a long time that sometimes comedy suffers from announcing that it's a comedy, and the humor becomes expected and routine when the whole function is to catch you off guard. So, I think we shouldn't let these categories drive the creative. Creative, it seems like these days, it's doing what it wants.”
Comedy and drama seem to be a winning formula for Fallout. According to THR reports, it was the second-biggest series ever worldwide, with over 16 days of release. And it was the No. 1 release in the U.S., with 2.9 billion minutes of viewing time in the U.S. over its first five days.
“I do think the humor is serviced by the drama and the gravitas that are significant,” Wagner continued. “We had comedy people working on the show, and Geneva (series creator Geneva Robertson-Dworet) brought in a bunch of drama people working on the show. So both camps fed one another, I think, in a really helpful way.”
A big part of the humor comes from Walton Goggins, who was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series as Cooper Howard, aka The Ghoul.
“There's no one who can deliver a more dramatic monologue and say it in a more unexpected way, but there's also no one funnier,” Robertson-Dworet said.
So, what's ahead in season 2? It's a bit under wraps, but the creator said they are “having a blast with it.”
“The crazy thing about making Season 1 is that you have eight hours to adapt a franchise, in which there's thousands of hours of gameplay to draw from, and it just means that you have to leave so many of your favorite pieces of the mythology behind,” she mentioned. “So we're honestly just excited to get to be able to dive deeper into it and who audiences more of this incredible world.”
Be sure to see what all the dramatic and funny moments are about. Fallout is streaming now on Max.