‘Fallout’ — How Thinking Like a Gamer Shaped Ella Purnell’s Performance

Ella Purnell has won hearts as Lucy MacLean, the happy-go-lucky protagonist of Prime Video’s hugely ambitious Fallout, adapted from the Bethesda RPG video game of the same name. The series has just been renewed for a sophomore season following a successful debut, and a lot of that success is down to Purnell’s winning portrayal of Lucy. Speaking before the show’s launch, on Ladies Night with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Purnell opened up about getting into a gamer’s mindset before filming the show.

Nemiroff asked whether there were specific aspects of Lucy’s past that Purnell developed on her own, which might not be explicitly shown or mentioned in the series but could still influence her performance and her character’s choices. In her response, Purnell explained that her deep dive into the game and extensive character research significantly enhanced her portrayal of Lucy. Despite being told it wasn’t necessary to play the game, she did so to genuinely understand and convey the gravity of the world of Fallout, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world following a nuclear war. Her approach to character development included creating playlists and envisioning personal preferences. She explained:

“I love research. It’s probably my second favorite thing. When you asked me that question earlier, I was gonna say research. I will make playlists, I will imagine what they like to wear, what kind of perfume they would wear, all of these annoying, pretentious actor-y things, but I kind of love them even if they’re completely useless. I guess that was playing the game for me.

Everyone involved said to me, “You don’t have to play the game. You really don’t need to. It’s not mandatory by any means.” And I did anyway, because I wanted to feel the full weight of what all of this meant. I wanted to feel the gravitas of that moment when I first tried on the vault suit, and knowing how special this was, and what a big deal, what an honor it was to be able to do that.”

Ella Purnell Enjoyed “Leveling Up” in ‘Fallout’

Going further down the gaming route, Purnell explained that her character, Lucy, faced a moment where she had to decide whether to upgrade her tranquilizer gun, reflecting the Fallout game’s emphasis on how choices influence character development. Although it was not a major scripted event, her knowledge of the game added depth to her portrayal, allowing her to imbue the scene with hesitation and reflection on how this choice could affect Lucy’s future. She found the integration of game elements into her acting both enriching and enjoyable. She told Nemiroff:

“I think one of the examples I can give you is that one of the themes of the game is choices. The choices that you make change your character’s trajectory, and leveling up weapons is another big thing. So there’s this moment where Lucy, the pacifist who only ever uses a tranq gun, is given the decision, “Is she going to level up her weapon?” And it wasn’t really a big scripted beat. It wasn’t a big scripted moment, but for me, the context of knowing this is something from the game that could be a really big deal, allowed just a little extra second of thought, a little extra second of hesitation, of temptation. “How is
this
choice right here going to affect my future?” Who knows if it’s going to make a better performance or not, but it sure is fun.”

Fallout is available to stream in its entirety on Prime Video now. Stay tuned to Collider for more on Season 2 and you can watch Purnell’s full episode of Ladies Night above.

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