By Jon Scarr
With Fallout Season 2 set to premiere December 17, the hype cycle is accelerating again. New Vegas is finally becoming more than a tease, familiar faces are returning, and the marketing engine is spinning up. That includes new interviews, one of which sparked a reaction from longtime Fallout fans.
Walton Goggins, who plays both Cooper Howard and The Ghoul, recently said in an interview that he has never played the Fallout games, and he doesn’t plan to. His reasoning caught attention, especially with the show heading right into one of the most beloved game settings.
“I don’t believe that I’m an avatar,” Goggins said. “I believe The Ghoul exists in the world.”
At first glance, it sounds bold. For many fans, Fallout means decades of lore, choices, and hours lost in the wasteland. The idea that one of the show’s most important actors hasn’t touched the games , and refuses to, feels almost shocking. But the longer you sit with what he’s saying, the more his stance actually makes sense for the character he plays.
Goggins’ Approach Is Different, but Not Wrong
Goggins explained that if he played the games, he might start thinking about the world through the lens of gameplay, leveling, quests, player choice, avatar identity. Instead, he wants to treat The Ghoul and Cooper Howard as people who exist independent of those structures.
That philosophy lines up with how his performance landed in Season 1. The Ghoul never felt like a reference or easter egg delivery system. He felt like someone who had lived for centuries and carried every scar. Season 1 surprised me in how grounded he made that role feel.
It’s not a stretch to imagine that playing the games might have shifted how he interpreted things. Fallout lets you pick choices, skip content, or go full chaos if you want to. That freedom is part of why fans love it, but it’s also why the show needs a different lens to work as a narrative.
The Cast Doesn’t Share One Method
Aaron Moten, who plays Maximus, also said he hasn’t played the games yet, but he plans to eventually. That gap between their approaches is interesting. One wants to remain outside the influence of the source material. The other wants to experience it in time.
Neither feels wrong. It actually reflects the same thing the series itself does: Fallout isn’t trying to recreate the games step-by-step. It borrows tone, themes, and iconography without pretending you’re in control.
If anything, the cast’s different approaches mirror how fans interact with Fallout too. Some dive deep into lore. Others just explore and take what comes. A show benefits from that variety.
Season 2 Is Heading to New Vegas and That Changes the Lens
This quote lands at an interesting moment. Season 2 is heading into New Vegas, a location with baggage, expectations, and nostalgia. Fans know it well. Many of us spent hours roaming its casinos, searching hidden vaults, and following factions to wild places.
Hearing that Goggins refuses to approach Fallout as a game reinforces one idea: this isn’t an adaptation built to copy missions or fan decisions. It is a standalone narrative using the universe rather than reenacting it.
Personally, that sits right in line with how Season 1 worked. As someone who has played the games, I didn’t want a literal remake. I wanted something that respected the tone while telling its own story. So far, that’s what we’re getting, and Goggins’ mindset probably plays a part in that.
Game Adaptations Don’t Have One Perfect Formula
Game-to-screen conversions used to struggle because they either copied too much or ignored the source entirely. Fallout lands somewhere more confident: inspired by the games but not beholden to them.
Goggins’ stance isn’t dismissive of fans. It sounds more like an actor choosing immersion over imitation, which, ironically, may be why so many viewers latched onto his performance.
With Season 2 only weeks away, this interview just adds another layer of curiosity. Not about whether he should play the games, but about how that philosophy shapes what we see next, especially now that New Vegas is on deck.
Are you okay with actors not touching the source material, or do you think they should experience it firsthand? I’m curious where you land on this one.